


I Don't Usually Give In To Peer Pressure, But I'll Give In To Yours

by justyrae



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/F, F/M, Genderswap, Porn with Feelings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-18
Updated: 2019-10-18
Packaged: 2020-12-22 19:16:01
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 36,163
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21081722
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/justyrae/pseuds/justyrae
Summary: Zayn and Louis have a good thing going, but when somebody new starts working at their office they can't help but wonder if things could be even better.





	1. The Meeting

**Author's Note:**

  * For [gravitycentered](https://archiveofourown.org/users/gravitycentered/gifts).

> THIS FIC IS TWO YEARS IN THE MAKING AND IS ENTIRELY THANKS TO GRAVITYCENTERED AND I AM ETERNALLY GRATEFUL SHE'S BEEN SO PATIENT WITH ME.
> 
> real talk tho this fic is 100% niche as fuck and it may only be of interest to gravitycentered but if you give it a shot then thank you very, very much.
> 
> big thanks to the mods of the 1D Back For You Fest for running a second round and giving me the kick in the ass i needed to finish this fic and also thanks to [spookystylan](http://spookystylan.tumblr.com) for making a fantastic edit for the tumblr post!!

Zayn knows Louis is approaching before she even makes it all the way down the aisle of cubicles. Every step echoes in the quiet office thanks to her shoes, the heels clicking against the hard floors as she saunters over to interrupt Zayn's work. She leans against the side of Zayn's cubicle, pillowing her head on her arms and clearing her throat to announce her presence, as if Zayn doesn't know full well that she's there. Zayn makes a point to keep her waiting for another few seconds, tapping her fingers against her keyboard a little harder than usual.

"Zayn," Louis says, her tone soft with a hint of a whine. Zayn fights a smile as she keeps still, her eyes still firmly fixed on her computer screen.

"Do you need something, Lou?" she asks casually, as she might with any other coworker. It's getting harder not to smile, because now it's a game. Zayn loves making Louis wait, and they both know it.

Louis sighs heavily as she comes closer, no longer waiting for an invitation. She leans against Zayn's desk and knocks the side of her foot against Zayn's chair. Out of the corner of her eye, Zayn can see Louis staring down at her, but she still doesn't move.

"Zayn," Louis repeats. Her voice is slightly more desperate this time, and a lot closer to Zayn's ear than she thought. She can't hold back a shiver and Louis giggles softly because she's won this round.

"What?" Zayn asks, finally turning around in her chair to face Louis. She watches as Louis crosses her arms and licks her lips in a self-satisfied sort of way. She tilts her head towards the cubicle at the end of the row, and suddenly Zayn understands.

"Who's Marcel?"

Zayn rolls her eyes. "You came all the way over here to ask me that?"

"No," Louis replies pointedly. "I came over here for an entirely different reason, but then I saw the name and now I'm curious." She taps her fingers against her arm and gives Zayn an expectant look. "So?"

"New guy," Zayn answers. "Starts next week."

"And?"

"And what?" Zayn laughs.

"That's it?" Louis frowns. "You don't know anything else?"

"Like what? His star sign? Blood type? How he takes his tea?"

"For starters," Louis says, a grin spreading across her face as Zayn shakes her head.

"Sorry, Lou. All I know is what was in the email." Zayn turns back to her computer to get back to work, but Louis grabs her mouse before she can, and starts clicking around in Zayn's email inbox.

"Rubbish, rubbish…" Louis mutters as she scrolls, bending down and pressing her chest against Zayn's shoulder. Zayn bites her bottom lip and digs her fingers into the arms of her chair to keep them from wandering. "Ah! Here it is."

Louis spends a few seconds reading the two whole lines in the email from Zayn's supervisor, which states exactly what Zayn already told her. She pouts.

"Reply and ask for more details," Louis tells her.

"What?" Zayn laughs. "No, I'm not going to—"

"Then I will!" Louis clicks reply before Zayn can stop her, but she slides her keyboard out of reach to stop Louis from typing out an inappropriate email.

"You're such a menace," Zayn says as she smacks Louis' hand off of her mouse. "Don't you have work to do?"

"I'm taking a break," Louis replies as she crosses her arms again but doesn't move from where she's standing. "We're allowed those, you know."

"Is that right?" Zayn hums. Her elbow brushes against Louis' thigh as she puts her keyboard back in its place and Louis presses even closer. "Lou."

"Aren't you curious?" Louis asks, ignoring the warning in Zayn's voice.

"About what?"

"Marcel," Louis purrs. She twists towards Zayn, resting one hand on the desk while the other drapes across the back of Zayn's neck. Her fingers trace invisible lines up and down Zayn's skin as she continues to talk. "He could be anyone."

"So?" Zayn asks in a tight voice. Her left hand twitches on the keyboard while her right grips the mouse far tighter than necessary.

"So what if he's some 80-year-old who doesn't know how to use a computer and has to go to the loo every ten minutes?"

Zayn stifles a laugh and Louis leans down a little more so she can slide her hand around Zayn's neck and trace the line of her collarbone. She shouldn't be this close, not during work hours, but her touch feels too good for Zayn to push her away.

"I doubt he's—"

"Or maybe," Louis continues, "he's a middle-aged divorcee with four kids who spends half the day on the phone with his ex arguing about custody."

"Lou," Zayn says, the warning a little more prevalent in her voice this time because Louis' hand is starting to slip inside her blouse and down towards her breast.

"Or _maybe_," Louis goes on, still ignoring Zayn, "he's witnessed some sort of crime and was relocated here under a false name because what sort of a name is_ Marcel_, anyway?"

"Louis," Zayn says firmly, finally pushing her hand away and shrugging her off. "I've got work to do, you know."

"You're no fun," Louis says as she steps back and leans against Zayn's desk. "I came all the way over for a visit and you're just going to keep working?"

"Yes," Zayn replies dryly, "Because we're at _work_ and that's what we're supposed to _do_."

"Take a break," Louis whines. "C'mon, Zayn, surely you've wondered who this Marcel is."

"I haven't, actually. I read the email and then I went back to work."

"But what if…"

Louis starts listing further possibilities for the kind of person Marcel could turn out to be, but Zayn starts tuning her out. She turns her attention back to her computer and attempts to concentrate on what she was working on before, but it's difficult when Louis doesn't stop talking.

"I'm thinking he's maybe six feet, dark hair, probably a bit long and maybe a little messy." Louis hums. "Probably wears flowy shirts half-unbuttoned, lots of rings, and of course, a pirate's hat."

"_What_?" Zayn asks, looking up at Louis.

"You know, like Jack Sparrow," Louis says with a smirk.

"Get out of here," Zayn says, trying not to laugh as she pushes Louis away. "He's not bloody Johnny Depp, you mental case."

"But he could be!" Louis cries as Zayn continues pushing her out of her cubicle.

"Go on," Zayn says, waving her away. "Let me get back to work, you nutter."

Louis pouts as Zayn turns her back, pulling her chair close to her desk. She listens for the sound of Louis' heels as she walks away, but she doesn't hear what she expects. Instead of leaving her be, Louis slips into the cubicle next to Zayn's, whose usual occupant is on holiday that week, and leans over the wall behind Zayn's computer.

Zayn tries not to engage, she really does. She stares resolutely at her computer screen until Louis' hands drift into her vision and cover it up. She bats them away but they keep coming back until Zayn finally breaks and looks up.

"Why won't you play with me?" Louis asks. Her bottom lip is pulled down into a pout and she makes soft, whimpering sounds. Zayn looks away, telling herself that she shouldn't give in; Louis _will_ go away eventually.

But then Louis reaches out and twists her finger around a lock of Zayn's hair, tugging just enough that it gets Zayn's attention but not quite enough to hurt.

"Zayn," Louis whispers. "C'mon, play with me."

"We can't," Zayn replies as she stands up, finally becoming eye-level with Louis. She glances around quickly to ensure nobody's watching the two of them and then leans in to put her mouth to Louis' ear. "But if we could, you know I would," she whispers.

Zayn pulls back and smiles at the flush on Louis' cheeks that wasn't there a minute ago. The pout is gone, replaced by a smug smile that tells Zayn what she already knew: they're both wrapped around each other's fingers.

"Well," Louis says with a soft huff. "I suppose I'll let you get back to work."

"Thank you," Zayn replies dryly. "So kind."

Louis winks at her as she sits back down in her chair. It's a losing struggle for Zayn not to turn her head and watch Louis walk past, but she's only human. She rubs the back of her neck with one hand and pulls her blouse away from her chest with the other, trying to cool herself down now that Louis isn't around.

It's embarrassing, really, how easy they are for each other. Zayn thinks it's a bloody miracle that they get any work done at all; made only slightly easier by the fact that they're not in the same department. If they were, well, then paying attention to their work would _definitely_ be far more difficult.

Zayn's able to get back to work with relative ease, only having to adjust her sitting position a few times as she relaxes. She's in the middle of writing an email when a meeting invitation pops up for later that afternoon, and her heart thumps loudly in her chest when she sees that it's from Louis.

She presses her hand to her mouth to stifle a laugh when she reads the meeting description; it's ridiculously convoluted and full of terms that mean absolutely nothing but _sound_ important enough to ward off suspicion. The location is set for the only conference room on the floor without any windows, and Zayn's face positively burns as she thinks about what Louis _really_ wants out of this meeting. 

An email appears a few seconds later from Louis with no subject line and only a winky face in the body of the email, immediately confirming Zayn's suspicions.

Zayn deletes the email and accepts the meeting invite without another moment of hesitation. She wiggles in her seat and glances at the clock, sighing softly when she sees that there's still forty minutes til their meeting.

There's no way she'll be able to get any work done without her mind wandering.

*

The following Monday morning starts no differently than any other Monday morning Zayn's had in the last year. She's had all weekend to completely forget about the fact that Marcel is starting today, and it still doesn't even cross her mind when she arrives at work with exactly three minutes to spare.

Louis, as always, is waiting outside the building for her. She lives far closer to the office than Zayn does, yet not once has Zayn spent the night at Louis' instead of her own house. Louis doesn't seem to mind, probably because Zayn's got an actual house while she's only got a one-bedroom flat above a sandwich shop. That, and it's an absolute fucking mess ninety-nine percent of the time.

Zayn still has yet to figure out how someone as absurdly messy as Louis manages to always look so well put together.

"Morning," Louis says cheerfully, smiling widely as she leans in to kiss Zayn's cheek.

"You're… perky," Zayn says in a slightly suspicious tone. She eyes Louis up and down, unable to note anything particularly different about her appearance, but still doesn't quite trust that Louis isn't hiding something.

"I'm always perky," Louis replies as she pulls the door open and lets Zayn go first.

"Your tits, maybe," Zayn murmurs. Judging by Louis' snort, she hears it just fine. She stays quiet until they're in the elevator with multiple other people, and then Louis leans in close to Zayn.

"You love my perky tits," she whispers, just on the edge of loud enough for the people around them to hear. Zayn closes her eyes and bites her lip to keep herself from laughing. She can see the self-satisfied smirk on Louis' face in her head.

Everything clicks in Zayn's mind the moment the elevator doors open, because the first thing Zayn sees is her supervisor with a man she's never seen before. With just one look she knows exactly who it must be: Marcel. The two of them are standing next to the security desk, presumably getting his clearance badge among other things, and Zayn walks as quickly as she can past them both with Louis on her heels.

They're not even around the corner before Louis starts making comments with no effort towards keeping her voice down.

"I did _not_ expect him to be that tall, and did you see the size of his feet??"

"Oh my god," Zayn laughs, "shut up, please, shut up."

"I will not," Louis replies haughtily. "You cannot tell me that you aren't thinking what I'm thinking."

"I'm not thinking what you're thinking," Zayn replies. "Literally nobody is thinking what you're thinking."

"That's a lie. You're absolutely thinking what I'm thinking, or otherwise your cheeks wouldn't be turning red."

"They're not!" Zayn hides her face from Louis, quickly pressing the back of her hand to her cheek.

"Zayn Malik, do you have a crush?" Louis teases loudly.

"Oh my _god_," Zayn groans, "would you shut up?"

"I can't believe it, he's been here all of five minutes and you already have--"

"I do not!" Zayn whispers harshly after she's clapped her hand over Louis' mouth. "You're the worst gossip I've ever met, d'you know that?"

Louis shakes off Zayn's hand and flicks her hair over her shoulder, smiling proudly. "I've worked hard to get where I am, thank you very much."

Zayn rolls her eyes, choosing to continue on to the break room instead of giving Louis any further accidental compliments. Louis follows, changing the subject to office gossip instead of lingering on Marcel's shoe size. Zayn rolls her eyes as Louis laments the lack of new gossip, complaining that their coworkers are just plain _boring_.

"They're not," Zayn tells her as she pulls a mug from the cupboard. "It's just that everyone seems boring when compared to you."

Louis preens. "I am fascinating, aren't I?"

"Yes," Zayn answers dutifully, though her tone suggests otherwise.

"You're part of this as well, y'know," Louis says as she nudges Zayn's elbow. She wrinkles her nose as she watches Zayn pour a cup of coffee, making a soft noise of disgust. "I don't know how you drink that shit."

"Keep talking and I won't make your tea," Zayn mumbles. She takes a sip of coffee and hums in satisfaction; even bad coffee tastes good on a Monday morning. When she looks up, Louis is pouting. "Oh stop looking at me like that."

"There's no need to be rude," Louis says, continuing to pout. "People will start to think you don't like me anymore."

"I don't," Zayn replies with a grin as she fills the kettle and turns it on. "Besides, that's what you love about being the center of gossip, innit?"

Louis shrugs. "It's not my fault everyone's curious about… you know."

Zayn gives her an unimpressed look and Louis beams widely.

"What?"

"You're so full of shit," Zayn mutters with a soft laugh as she pours hot water into Louis' mug and drops the tea bag into it. "You get off on everyone whispering about… _you know_." She purposefully drops her voice to mimic Louis' but hardly gets the words out without laughing.

"So do you," Louis reminds her, stepping close. "Or did you forget this weekend?"

Zayn looks at Louis and can tell from the look in her eyes that they're both thinking of the exact same thing. Zayn licks her lips and tilts her head slightly as her eyes wander down from Louis' face, smirking slightly when she meets Louis' eyes again.

"Definitely not," she purrs.

Before Louis can make another move, footsteps echo from the hallway and within seconds Zayn's boss appears in the doorway of the break room with Marcel close behind. Louis takes her mug and steps back from Zayn, and the two both turn towards the door with polite smiles.

"Standard things in here," Zayn's boss drawls as he points around the room, "refrigerator, kettle, you know." He spots Zayn and Louis and clears his throat. "Ah! Didn't see you two there, good morning."

"Morning," they chorus, Louis' voice far more chipper than Zayn's.

"Marcel, this is Louis Tomlinson, she runs the advertising department."

"Pleasure," Louis says, smiling widely as she extends her hand to Marcel.

"Hi," he replies meekly. Zayn watches his cheeks turn pink and can't help but think _poor sod_.

"And this is Zayn Malik, one of the best in our department," her boss continues proudly, as though her productivity is somehow his personal triumph. "You'll be working closely with her."

"_Very_ closely," Louis murmurs. Zayn quickly elbows her in the ribs and she yelps.

"Sorry?" Zayn's boss asks.

"Nothing," Zayn replies.

"Okay," he says, clearing his throat as he turns back to Marcel. "Anything you need, just ask her, alright?"

"O-Okay," Marcel replies, his voice still soft and unsure.

"Ladies," Zayn's boss says, nodding his head towards the two of them before he starts walking out of the break room. Marcel goes to follow, but pauses when Louis speaks again.

"Anything at all," she says, smiling wickedly. "It'd be Zayn's _pleasure_ to help."

Marcel's cheeks turn from light pink to beet red in nothing flat. He stutters out something unintelligible as he quickly turns and rushes to follow after their boss, leaving Zayn and Louis alone in the break room once more.

"Seriously?"

"What?" Louis asks, turning her wicked smile to Zayn.

"You had to do _that_? In front of my boss??"

"Please," Louis scoffs. "That was nothing."

"Nothing compared to what?" Zayn asks suspiciously. Louis doesn't answer. She presses a kiss to Zayn's cheek and saunters off, sending Zayn one last cheeky smile over her shoulder before she disappears around the corner.

Zayn shakes her head and picks up her mug of coffee, taking another sip before she leaves the break room. She can't let Louis get inside her head just yet, she's got far too much work to do.

Marcel's cubicle is occupied by both him and their boss when Zayn walks past, but she doesn't spare it a second look. She switches on her computer before she even sits down, using the time it takes to boot up to sit and enjoy her coffee before the work day officially starts.

Unfortunately, she barely has five minutes to herself before her boss appears at the opening to her cubicle, which can mean only one thing.

"Zayn, do us a favor and let Marcel shadow you for the day, alright?"

Zayn stares at him for a moment. She knows there's no conceivable way to say no to this; it's not really a request, but rather a heads-up before Marcel inevitably appears out of thin air. Still, she would've preferred to have been asked this last week, because then she might've been able to talk her way out of it.

"IT will have him in the system by tomorrow," he goes on, "but for now it'd be good if you could just help him get acclimated, you know?"

She absolutely _hates_ training new employees. As far as Zayn's concerned, all it does is destroy her productivity for the day and forces two people who don't know each other at all to spend time together in an extremely awkward environment. She thought she'd never be asked to train anyone again after the last time, but unfortunately being the "best" in her department has its drawbacks.

"Alright," she answers, plastering a fake smile onto her face.

"Excellent. He'll be over in a minute. Let me know how it's going after lunch, yeah?"

He doesn't give Zayn a chance to properly answer before he leaves, presumably to give Marcel his new instructions. Zayn sighs heavily as she whips her chair back around and promptly opens up a new email, addressing it to Louis with a few swift clicks of her keyboard.

_DO NOT COME TO MY CUBICLE TODAY I'M WARNING YOU DON'T DO IT!!!!!_

She sends the email with seconds to spare before Marcel appears, dragging the chair from his own cubicle into hers while trying not to drop the notebook that's tucked under his arm. Zayn gives him an awkward smile when their eyes meet for a moment, but they both look away so quickly that she sort of wishes she hadn't done anything at all.

Marcel is still fussing with his chair when Louis' reply pops up in Zayn's inbox. She clicks on it, resizing the window to be as small as possible to hopefully avoid letting Marcel see it over her shoulder.

_I have meetings all day but ur still no fun :(_

Zayn cracks a smile but jumps slightly when Marcel clears his throat. She closes out of the email and quickly deletes it, turning around to face Marcel again after she's taken a deep breath.

They stare at each other in awkward silence for a few seconds, neither one brave enough to speak first. It doesn't help that Zayn has literally _no_ idea what to say. She's had hundreds of conversations with complete strangers before, training a new employee shouldn't be this difficult.

"Umm," she starts, laughing awkwardly as her nerves betray her. "Why don't… we could… I'll just…"

Zayn pauses, huffing sharply before she scoots her chair over and motions for Marcel to come closer. He hesitates for a moment before doing so, using his feet to drag the chair across the floor and pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose once it comes to a stop.

"I'll show you some things," Zayn explains, her words coming out slightly jerky as though she's forgotten how to string a sentence together, "and you can take notes and ask questions if you have them. Sound alright?"

Marcel doesn't say anything, he just nods eagerly as he opens his notebook and readies his pen. Zayn nods in return before facing her computer and silently cursing this day. She makes the mistake of looking at the clock in the bottom corner of her screen and it just puts her in a worse mood.

Zayn keeps her eyes on her computer rather than looking over at Marcel, mostly because she tends to lose her train of thought whenever she does glance his way. It's infuriating to have Louis' voice in her head - _Zayn Malik, do you have a crush?_ \- when all she wants to do is _work_.

As the morning goes on, Zayn gets more comfortable with having Marcel right next to her. He doesn't interrupt her, he hardly ever _speaks_, he just takes notes. All Zayn hears is the scratch of his pen against the paper in his notebook and the occasional flipping of a page. Sometimes, out of the corner of her eye, she catches a glimpse of him looking up from his notebook and he always has to push his glasses up the bridge of his nose.

Just before the clock hits twelve, Zayn starts closing all the programs she's opened to give Marcel a good look at what their department specializes in. The pen in Marcel's hand suddenly comes to a stop and when Zayn looks over, Marcel actually looks sad.

"What?" Zayn asks.

"That's it?"

"Well…" Zayn gestures to the clock. "For now? Yeah."

"Oh." Marcel's eyes dart from the clock down to his notebook again and he clears his throat. "Right. Right, o-of course."

Zayn watches as he closes his notebook and pushes his chair back from her desk. There's a weird feeling building in her chest as it happens, almost like she's fond of him or something. A few hours ago, she was dreading having him around and now she actually feels a bit sorry that the morning's already over.

"Marcel--" Zayn starts, but she doesn't have a chance to say what's on her mind before she's interrupted by Louis popping up unannounced.

"Hi," she says, smiling widely at both Zayn and Marcel. He jumps, not having expected her to appear out of the blue, and nearly drops his notebook onto the floor. "Sorry, didn't mean to scare you."

Zayn rolls her eyes; the look on Louis' face doesn't match what comes out of her mouth most days, and this is no exception. The unfortunate thing is that Marcel doesn't know how to handle Louis at all, so all he can do is stutter something in return and quickly duck out of Zayn's cubicle.

Louis frowns as she watches him go before she turns back to Zayn. "Was it something I said?"

"Lou," Zayn says with a deep sigh.

"What?"

Zayn shakes her head as she gets to her feet, passing by Louis as she starts walking away from her cubicle and towards the cafeteria. Louis follows her, pestering her to say something instead of being judgmental.

"I'm not being judgmental," Zayn tells her.

"You are," Louis says with a huff. "I just came over to invite him to join us for lunch, and--"

"And you scared him off," Zayn finishes. Louis pouts.

"I did not."

"Did too."

"I didn't _mean _to!"

Zayn gives her a flat look. "Did too," she repeats.

*

By the end of the week, Marcel has been assigned a few small projects of his own and no longer needs to shadow Zayn all day. There's an occasional email throughout the day, mostly just simple questions with accompanying screenshots of his problems, but for the most part Zayn's glad to see that Marcel _can_ actually do the work on his own.

Well, on the one hand she's glad he's on his own. On the other, Zayn fears that he might not actually _stay_ with this job seeing as how Louis makes it her mission to pop by nearly every hour, if only just to walk by and distract Marcel. He jumps literally every time she says a word to him and while it was amusing at first, now Zayn just finds it a little sad.

"You need to lay off him," Zayn murmurs softly when Louis appears in her cubicle with a self-satisfied smirk on her face.

"I was only saying hello!" Louis counters.

"Your hellos are going to give him a heart attack."

Louis frowns. She plasters herself across Zayn's back and whimpers in her ear, but Zayn offers her zero sympathy apart from a pat on her cheek.

"What're you doing?" Louis asks with her body still pressed against Zayn's shoulders.

"Working," Zayn replies. She tries to shift to knock Louis off, but it doesn't work. "Shouldn't you be working?"

"It's Friday," Louis answers. Zayn waits a beat for further explanation, but none comes.

"Speaking of," Zayn says as she clicks on her email inbox and brings up an email from her supervisor. "You may want to go to yours tonight."

Louis picks her head up and frowns again. "Why?"

"Because I've got this," Zayn says, gesturing to the email. Louis leans closer to her computer screen and spends a few seconds reading it over, making a soft noise of interest.

"Mandatory?" Louis says. "Your whole team has to go?"

"Yes," Zayn replies, "that's what mandatory means."

"Shut up," Louis mutters as she pinches Zayn's side. "Why don't we ever have mandatory pub outings?"

"Because your department has three people."

"So?" Zayn rolls her eyes at Louis, but it does nothing to deter her. "Maybe I'll come along."

"You… what?"

"It's at the pub down the street!" Louis says brightly. "It's not like they can keep me from going, what if I wanted to go to the pub anyway?"

"Or you could go _home_," Zayn says, "and not have to make small talk with coworkers you don't actually like."

Louis tuts and Zayn rolls her eyes again. All she wants to do is go home after work and _not_ have to go to this stupid team building whatever.

"I'll keep you company," Louis says as she wraps her arms around Zayn's neck and presses a light kiss to her cheek. "We could always leave early, anyway." She puts her mouth to Zayn's ear and whispers, "go back to yours and have our own team building exercises."

"You're terrible," Zayn says through several giggles. "That was genuinely awful."

"Oh, give me a break, I'm trying to be subtle for once in my life!"

Zayn turns her head and quickly presses her lips against Louis' in a soft kiss. Louis smiles at her and tries to steal another kiss, but Zayn pulls away.

"I'm not talking you out of this, am I?" she murmurs.

"Nope," Louis says with a grin. "This is too good of an opportunity to give up."

"What?" Zayn laughs. "What're you talking about?"

"Marcel," Louis answers brightly as she stands up and exits Zayn's cubicle. "He'll definitely warm up to me after a few pints!"

Zayn opens her mouth to protest, but Louis is already gone. She turns back to her desk and buries her head in her arms, groaning softly. This is a terrible idea, and there's nothing she can do about it.

*

One of the most amusing parts of having Louis tag along to the mandatory team building outing for Zayn's department is that not a single one of their coworkers seems to bat an eye at her being there. That is, of course, except for Marcel. But something tells Zayn that he's not about to question it to either of their faces.

He arrives last to the pub whereas Louis and Zayn arrived with the bulk of their coworkers. If she'd thought she could get away with it, Zayn would've hung back at the office for as long as possible to avoid spending as much time at the pub as possible. But with Louis in tow, that was most definitely never going to happen.

Louis claims one of the largest booths for their use within five minutes of walking into the pub, and within another five there are at least three pitchers on the table and half a dozen of Zayn's teammates tucked in around it. She's holding conversations with approximately everyone, a talent that Zayn still hasn't been able to figure out. It's also unclear how Louis seems to know not only the names of all of the people in her department but random facts that allows her to keep new topics coming every few minutes. It's rather exhausting to watch, let alone to be a part of, so Zayn just sits quietly next to Louis with a pint glass in her hand and only adds to the conversation when absolutely necessary.

This gives her the perfect opportunity to keep her eyes on Marcel.

He sits at the bar instead of joining the group, which is something Zayn had expected him to do. She watches as he studies the specials with far more concentration than anyone should ever expend on a tiny plastic menu, only to seemingly lose his nerve when the bartender actually approaches. After the bartender's left to get his drink, Marcel pushes his glasses up the bridge of his nose and tugs at his collar. He glances around timidly and quickly looks away when he catches a glimpse of Zayn looking at him, but she doesn't. His cheeks start to pink up as he stares resolutely at the bar in front of him and he jumps when the bartender sets a pint glass down in front of him.

Zayn takes a sip from her own pint and lets herself be distracted by Louis, turning her eyes away from Marcel. He's still staring at the bar when she looks back several minutes later, and his pint glass looks like it hasn't even been touched.

"What're you doing?" Louis purrs. To her credit, Zayn doesn't flinch even though Louis' lips are mere inches away from her ear.

"Drinking," she replies as she brings her glass up to her mouth. "Socializing," she continues as she turns her head towards Louis' with a smile. "Same as you."

Louis scoffs, chuckling under her breath as her arm slips behind Zayn's back and her fingers dance across the hem of Zayn's blouse. Zayn shifts closer to Louis, close enough that their hips touch and her arm brushes against Louis' breast when she brings her glass up to her mouth again.

"What?" she asks, playing into Louis' game. "Don't believe me?"

"Oh, I believe you." Louis rests her chin on Zayn's shoulder. "But I think you're doing something I'm not, too."

"Is that right?" Zayn presses her nose against Louis' cheek and smiles. "What am I doing?"

"You're _staring_," Louis teases, "because you have a _crush_."

"Shut up," Zayn replies. She turns away from Louis and takes another drink, purposefully avoiding looking in Marcel's direction.

"Shouldn't we invite him over?" Louis asks. "Seems rude not to, and he looks awfully lonely over there."

Louis starts to pull away and Zayn immediately grabs onto her arm to hold her in place. When she looks over, Louis is grinning widely and Zayn's cheeks flush harder.

"Leave him be," Zayn says. "If he'd wanted company, he'd have come over."

Louis frowns. "But--"

"Leave him," Zayn repeats. Louis starts pouting, making whimpering noises into Zayn's ear, but Zayn doesn't let go of her arm. "Don't be naughty," she whispers.

"I'm trying to be friendly," Louis says. "You're the naughty one."

Zayn snickers and shakes her head. She waits until Louis is caught up in conversation with one of their coworkers before she chances another look at Marcel. He's still facing the bar but he's got his pint in his hand and she watches as he brings it up to his lips and takes the smallest sip in the world, only to immediately grimace at the taste and quickly put it back down.

She catches Louis' attention when she laughs, but she feigns innocence and pretends like she wasn't just watching Marcel. Surprisingly, Louis doesn't question it.

After a while Zayn realizes that Louis is watching Marcel too.

It suddenly clicks in Zayn's mind that the reason she's trying to keep Louis from Marcel isn't really because she wants to protect him, it's because she wants to protect herself. Even though she and Louis haven't really defined what they are to each other, even now after nearly a year of consistently hooking up, Zayn thinks they're at least on the same page when it comes to one another. Marcel could disrupt the already fragile state of things, and for what?

Zayn closes her eyes for a moment and breathes in slowly. She knows this train of thought is ridiculous and futile, but she can't deny the sudden pounding of her heart.

Her pint glass is a little less than half full, but she picks it up and drains its contents in a matter of seconds. Louis doesn't have the chance to ask what's going on before Zayn's asking the bloke next to her to slide out of the booth so she can get out. She's halfway to the bar before Louis calls out her name. Zayn waits until she's at the bar to glance over her shoulder and brandish her empty glass, letting out a soft breath of relief when Louis seems satisfied enough not to follow after her. It's honestly surprising that nobody calls after her to bring them another few pitchers, considering all the ones left at the booth are empty.

Zayn doesn't opt for heading straight for Marcel; her mind is still a jumble of emotions and she can't be sure that's why she got up at all. She waits patiently for the bartender to come her way and orders a fresh pint when he finally does. It takes less than a minute for him to pour one and set it in front of her, by which time Zayn still hasn't made a decision about what she's going to do. When she glances down the bar in his direction, she catches him staring. He quickly looks away and drowns his embarrassment in his pint, grimacing before the glass even leaves his lips.

It turns out to be the push she needs, and Zayn makes her way down to the other end of the bar. Marcel is trying extremely hard to be nonchalant when she takes the seat next to him, but he's so nervous he's practically vibrating.

"Enjoying yourself?" she asks in a casual voice.

"Hmm? Oh, y-yeah, yes." Marcel clears his throat and smiles weakly at her.

"Cheers," she says, holding out her glass towards him. Marcel hesitates for a moment before clinking his against it, and hesitates again when Zayn takes a drink.

It's a close call, but Zayn manages not to snort beer up her nose when she can't hold back a giggle at the look on Marcel's face.

"Why don't you get something else?" Zayn asks. "There's bound to be something here you actually like to drink."

"No, it's fine, really, I-I…" Marcel glances around. "I just… y'know."

"What?"

Marcel taps his fingers against his glass as he looks around the room. "It's a pub."

"So?"

"So," he says with a soft huff. "Men drink beer at pubs. Right?"

"Oh jesus," Zayn mutters as she rolls her eyes. "Do you even like beer?"

Marcel splutters a little bit, never actually answering her question. Zayn takes that as a _no_ and flags down the bartender.

"No, you don't have to--"

"Hi," she says to the bartender, smiling widely when he gives her a strange look after eyeing both of their mostly-full pint glasses. "Can I get a…" she hums for a moment, weighing the options in her head before she makes a decision, "daiquiri? Strawberry, if you please."

The bartender nods swiftly and leaves. Zayn turns back to Marcel, whose cheeks have turned bright red.

"You didn't have to do that," he says quietly.

Zayn deflates. "Sorry," she says, immediately feeling ashamed of herself. "I didn't even ask if you like those."

"No, I do, it's just…" Marcel glances around again. "Embarrassing, innit?"

"I'm not going to take the piss for it, if that's what you're worried about." Zayn gives him a gentle smile.

"You're not?"

"I'm the one who ordered it," she laughs, "that'd be a bit shit, wouldn't it?"

"Yeah," Marcel says. Barely a second passes before his mouth drops open and he stares at Zayn like he's seen a ghost or something. "I-I'm sorry, I didn't mean--"

"It's okay," Zayn assures him with a gentle laugh. She pats his shoulder and he visibly relaxes under her touch. "You don't have to keep apologizing, you know."

"Sorry," Marcel says automatically, groaning under his breath when he realizes he's done it again. "It's just… habit, I guess."

"I can handle a bit of snark," Zayn says. "You hang around Louis enough, you learn right quick."

"Yeah, she's…" Marcel clears his throat and avoids Zayn's eyes. "She's something."

Zayn doesn't get a chance to ask what he means by that because the bartender comes over with Marcel's daiquiri. They both stare at it for a few seconds, but when Marcel doesn't make any moves towards it, Zayn takes it upon herself to push it towards him.

"Go on," she says. "It won't bite."

Marcel waits another minute or so before he reaches for it, glancing briefly at Zayn before he goes for the straw tongue first. Zayn darts her eyes away as he takes his first sip, choosing instead to drink from her own glass rather than continue staring at Marcel's mouth.

Microphone feedback screeches across the pub and Zayn quickly turns to see where it's coming from. Her eyes widen when she realizes there's a stage in the far corner and the reason behind that awful sound is because they're setting up for karaoke.

"Oh, god," she mutters, laughing to herself as she turns back around. Marcel's still got his mouth wrapped around the straw in his drink and Zayn starts giggling even more when she realizes he's already drunk about half of it. He snickers a little as he pulls back, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand and giving Zayn a sheepish look as she continues to giggle at him.

"It's good," he says by way of an excuse.

"I'm sure it is," she replies, drowning the sound of her laughter into her own glass.

"Would you like some?" Marcel asks as he pushes the glass a few inches towards her. Zayn puts her now half empty glass back down on the bar and shakes her head.

"I couldn't."

"I don't mind!"

Zayn laughs, unable to keep from smiling at Marcel's eagerness. "It's yours, though."

"I don't mind sharing," Marcel says. Zayn stares at him for a moment, long enough that the pinkness in his cheeks turns slightly darker under her gaze. She's truly been spending too much time with Louis because her mind's gone to places not meant for the general public.

"Alright," she says finally, leaning forward to wrap her lips around the straw sticking out of Marcel's daiquiri. It's better than she expects it to be, the sweetness of strawberry hiding any and all trace of alcohol which Zayn knows can be _deadly_.

Marcel keeps darting his eyes around as she takes a sip, like he's afraid to look at her for too long. Zayn hums as she sits up straight again and taps her nails against the bar.

"Well?" Marcel asks curiously.

"S'good," Zayn replies, smiling as she licks her lips. "Might have to get one of those next round."

"I'd be happy to get you one," Marcel says. He clears his throat immediately after the words come out, as though he hadn't expected them to. "I mean… I do owe you one, after all."

"It's only fair," Zayn agrees.

The sound of laughter and applause takes Zayn's attention away from Marcel and back to the far side of the pub, where a bloke with ruffled brown hair and a pint in his hand has taken the stage. He can't seem to stop laughing and he has to lean on the mic stand for support while a song starts up through the karaoke machine. He finally gets a hold of himself and stands up straight, pointing at someone across the way as he speaks into the microphone.

"Shut up, I'm singing now!" he shouts in an Irish brogue before he starts singing the first verse of Hotel California.

Despite how much he's had to drink, Zayn's impressed by his voice. She chuckles to herself and turns back to her pint, catching Marcel staring at the bloke onstage out of the corner of her eye.

"Do you sing?" she asks, taking him by surprise. He laughs nervously and shakes his head, tracing his finger along the bottom of his daiquiri glass.

"Not in public," he says in an embarrassed tone.

"I'm more of a car singer, myself. Or the shower." Zayn thumbs away a stray drop of beer from her bottom lip and smiles. "Better acoustics in the shower, innit?"

Marcel gulps audibly and Zayn hides her smirk against the lip of her pint glass. Louis would be proud of that one, she thinks to herself. Zayn glances over her shoulder back towards their coworkers, expecting to see Louis still sitting amongst them, but she's nowhere to be found. Zayn frowns and looks around the room, wondering if she's just gone to the loo or if she's hiding somewhere, waiting to jump out and surprise the both of them. It wouldn't be the first time Louis has done such a thing, but the pub doesn't exactly host a number of optimal hiding spaces.

But… she couldn't have left, could she? Zayn's saddened by the very thought of it. She takes another long draft from her pint, frowning when she sees it's almost empty, and then turns back to Marcel.

"So, what _do_ you like to do?" she asks. Marcel looks surprised by her question, almost flustered. He tugs at his collar before he answers, and Zayn does her best to pay attention.

But the thing is, she can't. Her mind is awash with wondering where Louis has gone off to. She half expected Louis to come over and interrupt the two of them; it's an honest-to-god miracle it hasn't happened yet. It's just not like her to wander off. Even when she's proper upset about something she still just hangs around to mope until someone (usually Zayn) tries to make her feel better. If Louis doesn't pop up soon, Zayn doesn't know what she'll do.

"Zayn?" Marcel clears his throat. "You alright?"

"Yeah," she replies automatically, snapping out of her thoughts and crashing back into reality. "Sorry, was just thinking about--"

"Louis?" Zayn blinks.

"Yeah." She swallows hard. "How did you--"

"No, I mean…" Marcel points behind Zayn, and when she turns around she realizes that the pub's erupted in applause for the brunette bloke, who's finished his performance of Hotel California. He stumbles back to his booth not too far from the stage and barrels headfirst into the tattooed arms of a bloke with a buzzcut.

But Zayn's eyes don't linger very long on the two of them, because the next act is already up on the stage and it's Louis.

"Oh god," Zayn mutters. "Oh, no."

"She sings?" Marcel asks.

"All the bloody time," Zayn replies, trying to hide her embarrassment as Louis adjusts the microphone stand, staring right at the two of them with a smirk that can only mean she's got something up her sleeve. All Zayn can think about is the last time they went somewhere with karaoke and how Louis ended up getting them kicked out after an impromptu striptease during her rendition of Nelly's Hot In Herre.

Zayn doesn't particularly fancy having a round two of that debacle.

A light piano tune begins to play through the speakers and it takes a second for Zayn to recognize it, only momentarily thrown off by the lack of heavy bass that she'd been expecting. She had figured Louis would pick a song she could dance seductively to - something with a sultry beat and suggestive lyrics - but instead she chose Vanessa fucking Carlton. Zayn doesn't know whether to be impressed or insulted.

_Making my way downtown, walking fast, faces pass and I'm homebound_, Louis sings. Her smile seems innocent enough but Zayn can see the impish look in her eyes from all the way across the room.

She isn't sure yet what Louis is up to, but she's definitely got some sort of trick up her sleeve.

_Staring blankly ahead just making my way, making my way through the crowd._

Zayn wants to turn away, she wants to prove that she isn't mesmerized by whatever spell Louis is trying to cast on her, but she doesn't. She can't. Louis isn't doing any of her usual karaoke moves, she isn't trying to grab the attention of everyone in the room, and yet Zayn can't take her eyes off of Louis.

Louis' eyes flicker away from Zayn's for a moment and Zayn gulps. It's then that she realizes that Louis' attention isn't solely on her. Instead of playing to the room at large or only to Zayn, Louis is trying her damnedest to impress Zayn _and_ Marcel.

_And I need you, and I miss you, and now I wonder._

Zayn can't help but think that if she were to turn around and look at Marcel right now, he'd probably have the same slack-jawed look on his face that she's undoubtedly sporting at that very moment. Louis just has that way about her, even when she's not trying.

_If I could fall into the sky, do you think time would pass me by? _Louis looks at Zayn again with a smile that's very nearly a smirk, but remains innocent enough that for once Zayn can't pinpoint what Louis is thinking.

She can turn even the most eloquent of people into stuttering messes with one flutter of her eyelashes. Zayn knows it all too well, but it's always more fun watching it happen to someone else. Usually it sends a wave of jealousy through Zayn but tonight it simply gives her a thrill and a desire to see what happens next.

_'Cause you know I'd walk a thousand miles if I_, Louis looks to Marcel again and Zayn feels a shiver go down her own spine, _could just see you tonight._

The moment the song finishes, Zayn turns her stool back towards the bar and immediately drinks the rest of her pint. It's hardly more than a few sips at best so there's not a huge amount of effort required, but Zayn needs something to occupy herself. Louis is making her way towards the bar and if Zayn isn't careful, she'll end up meeting Louis halfway and give the entire pub a show they _definitely_ do not deserve to see.

Louis slides into the space between Zayn and Marcel, and Zayn risks it all by turning her head towards Louis. A moment later Louis' hand is on her thigh and she's smiling sweetly at Zayn, but then she's turning her head towards Marcel. She leaves her hand on Zayn's thigh, the grip just tight enough that Zayn knows it's not going anywhere.

"Well?" Louis asks when neither Zayn nor Marcel say a word. "What did you think?"

Zayn leans back just enough that she can see past Louis to Marcel, and she finds him looking back and forth between the two of them as his cheeks turn redder and redder by the second. He tugs at his collar again, his tie still too tight even after being off work for ages now.

"Y-You, umm, you w-were…" he stutters and stumbles over his words, his hands shaking as he twists his fingers together. "I really… it w-was…"

"Interesting song selection," Zayn interrupts, her voice as smooth as she can manage. Louis turns to her with a wide smile.

"Did you like it? I picked it out special." She squeezes Zayn's thigh and winks at her.

"I'm sure you did," Zayn replies. She wishes she had another drink in front of her that she could distract herself with. She can feel her own cheeks burning and it's getting harder not to pull Louis' hand further in.

Louis' eyes drift to Zayn's empty pint glass and then she turns her head and glances at Marcel's mostly-drunk daiquiri. She hums to herself and then turns around to face the bar, taking her hand off of Zayn's thigh so she can flag down the bartender.

"Time for another round, don't you think?"

*

The rest of the people from Zayn and Marcel's team leave the bar one by one, until the three of them are all that's left. Louis manages to coax Marcel away from the bar and into a booth once everyone else is gone. Within that time, Marcel has had two more daiquiris and has actually loosened his tie so he stops tugging at his collar every few minutes.

Zayn follows the two of them to a corner booth and slides in on Marcel's other side. She's still working on her third pint and she suspects Louis has since lost count of the number of drinks she's had tonight. Zayn's used to taking care of Louis when she's drunk; it's mostly just keeping her hands above the waist and her clothes on, anyway.

They're brought two rounds of shots and Marcel's eyes go wide as Louis pushes two of the tiny glasses towards him.

"To you," she says, taking one of the remaining shot glasses for herself. "And your excellent first week."

Marcel ducks his head and pushes his glasses up the bridge of his nose as he takes one of the shots with a shaky hand. Zayn wonders if he's shaking because he's still nervous or if it's due to the amount of alcohol he's drunk.

She sort of hopes it's the latter.

"So, Marcel," Louis says after all of the shots have been drunk and there's a row of empty glasses on the table. Marcel works on pushing them all into a straight line, but he pushes one too far when Louis says his name, and he looks at her with a sheepish smile.

"Yes?" He pushes his glasses further up the bridge of his nose and Zayn carefully pushes the stray glass back into line with the others.

"Where did you come from?" Louis asks.

"Wh-what do you mean?"

"Well," Louis points at Zayn. "She came from Bradford." Louis presses her hand back to her own chest. "I'm from Doncaster."

She presses a single finger into the hollow between Marcel's collarbones and smiles at him.

"Cheshire," he eventually says. "H-Holmes Chapel."

Louis hums in interest. Her finger stays pressed against Marcel's skin for another few seconds before she drags it downwards, trailing down Marcel's loosened tie as it goes.

"Let me guess," Zayn says, taking Marcel's attention away from Louis and giving him a minute to breathe. "Uni in Manchester?"

Marcel cracks a smile. "Yeah. My sister went there too, said it was fantastic."

"You have a sister?" Louis gasps. "Older, I'm guessing?"

"Yeah," Marcel says as he looks back at Louis. "She, umm, she stayed in Manchester, though. Mum likes it, because she's still close, y'know."

Zayn hums. "Mums don't like their babies moving away."

"No," Marcel replies, watching Zayn's mouth as she takes a sip from her pint. Zayn keeps expecting him to realize what he's doing and quickly look away, but surprisingly he doesn't.

"My mum asks me every day when I'm coming back home," Louis says. Zayn rolls her eyes.

"You'd move back home in a heartbeat, you know you would."

"I would not," Louis replies haughtily. "Me, going back to live with eight other people? You're mad."

"You'd love it, don't even start." Zayn snickers fondly.

"Eight?" Marcel repeats.

"There's Mum and Dan, me stepdad," Louis starts, counting them off on her fingers. "Then Lottie, Fizzy, Daisy and Phoebe - they're twins - and then Dorie and Ernie, the babies, also twins."

"Wow." Marcel blinks. "That's… a lot."

"A full house, for sure."

"A madhouse," Zayn mutters.

Louis tosses a crumpled up napkin at her. "You love my family, I don't want to hear that."

"What about you, Zayn?" Marcel asks. "D'you have siblings?"

"Mhmm. Not like Lou's got, but more than you." She grins. "Three sisters, one older, two younger."

"Lots of girls," Marcel says quietly, probably meaning to say it more to himself than aloud. Louis and Zayn share a look, and Louis leans into Marcel a little more.

"D'you have a girlfriend, Marcel?"

"What?" Marcel honks out a laugh and quickly covers his mouth. "No, I… no. No girlfriend."

"Boyfriend?" Louis asks curiously. Marcel shakes his head.

"Louis," Zayn chastises gently.

"What? I'm just making conversation."

"You--"

"Why did you want to know?" Marcel asks, interrupting Zayn. He sits back against the booth and slides down a little, sort of like he can't help it. His cheeks are infinitely more flushed than they were when they sat down, and he's biting his bottom lip like he's trying not to smile but the dimple in his left cheek is giving it away.

"Why did I want to know what?" Louis asks, playing coy.

"If I'm… y'know. Dating somebody. Anybody." He tilts his head and starts to lean towards Zayn, and she catches him before he falls into her lap.

"Oh my god," she says softly. They've broken him. All of his drinks must've finally caught up to him in one fell swoop and now he can hardly hold himself up.

"I just… I wanna know," he says. "I wanna know why you wanna know."

"Why do you think I wanna know?" Louis asks. Zayn has to stop herself from rolling her eyes. She knows this is how Louis gets when she's drunk, and if Marcel weren't just as or more drunk, he'd probably be getting frustrated with her vague answer/questions.

"I dunno," Marcel says after a few seconds. "I've never been asked that by a pretty girl before."

"D'you hear that, Zayn?" Louis says with a smile. "Marcel thinks I'm pretty."

"Fuck yeah, I think you're pretty," Marcel says before Zayn can say another word. They both start giggling at Marcel's outburst, but he keeps going. "You're both absolutely beautiful, and way, _way_ out of my league."

"Marcel," Zayn says, "we're not--"

"You are, though." Marcel leans into her, pressing his cheek against her shoulder. "And that's okay. I can live with that."

"I don't think we are," Louis says as she moves closer to Marcel on his other side. She puts her hand on top of his where it's laying on his thigh and Zayn can _hear_ it when he swallows hard. "I think maybe you're out of ours."

Marcel laughs. "Now you're just taking the piss."

"I most certainly am not," Louis replies indignantly.

"You're both pissed," Zayn remarks. "I should've cut you off ages ago."

Both Louis and Marcel groan at that, and Zayn shakes her head. Somehow she ended up taking care of two ridiculous children tonight, and she's ridiculously fond of both of them.

"Just one more?" Marcel asks. "One of the fruity ones, again?" He blinks up at her. "Don't I still owe you one?"

"You might," she replies. "But we could always save it for next time."

"Next time?" Louis repeats, brightening up.

"Next time?" Marcel echoes, his brow furrowed in confusion.

"Yes," Zayn says, patting him gently on the cheek. "Next time."

It's quite a feat, getting Marcel into a cab and holding Louis back from climbing in there with him. It doesn't help that he's trying to insist on the three of them sharing, when they're going in complete opposite directions.

"No, Marcel, you take this one," Zayn says as patiently as she can, keeping a firm hold around Louis' waist. "We'll get the next one."

"Or we could get in that one," Louis says as she drapes herself across Zayn's back. "Have more fun."

"No, Louis," Zayn tells her firmly as she finally shuts the door and taps the roof of the taxi. It pulls away from the curb with Marcel pressed against the back window, and Louis waves after it.

"Bye, Marcel!" she calls, mostly into Zayn's ear. After the cab's out of sight, she drops all of her weight onto Zayn's back again and whines in her ear.

"What now?" Zayn asks.

"We should've invited him home with us," Louis says petulantly as another cab pulls up.

Zayn pours Louis into this one and shoves in beside her, giving her address to the driver before she pulls Louis back against her side. She's expecting Louis to fall asleep before they even make it back to hers, but surprisingly Louis stays awake the whole time.

And she doesn't shut up about Marcel, either.

Zayn actually thinks Louis is starting to sober up when the cab pulls up in front of her house, but then she nearly falls onto her face and Zayn thinks _maybe not_.

"C'mon, inside you go," she says as she pulls Louis back up to her feet and drags her into the house.

She deposits Louis onto her bed and manages to get loose from her grip long enough to go into her ensuite to take off her makeup. Normally after a night out Zayn couldn't care less about washing her face, but since she's not really buzzed anymore there's really no excuse not to.

Louis hasn't moved a muscle when Zayn re-enters her bedroom. She's continued whining during the entirety of Zayn's absence, although she's gotten to the point where she's mostly just repeating the same things she said on the way home from the pub. Zayn crawls onto the bed next to her, propping herself up on her elbow so she can look down at Louis with a fond smile.

"Are you going to sleep like this?" Zayn teases gently.

"I'm not sleepy," Louis tells her in a matter-of-fact tone.

"Is that right?"

"It is." Louis nods, lifting her head up off the mattress only to let it fall back a second later and she grunts, wincing when it connects. "I don't want to sleep."

"Okay," Zayn says, playing along as she brushes Louis' hair out of her face. "What do you want to do?"

"I want to drink more," Louis replies.

"You've had plenty for the both of us," Zayn says with a laugh. "What else?"

"I want… to dance?"

"Do you?"

Louis grunts again. "No. The room's already sort of spinning."

"Aww, love." Zayn pouts. "Do you want some water?"

"No," Louis whines as she rolls onto her side towards Zayn and presses her face against Zayn's chest. She mumbles something into the fabric of Zayn's shirt.

"What?" Zayn tries to coax her back out. "Lou, I can't hear you."

"We should've invited Marcel back here," Louis says loudly, though her face is still buried against Zayn's shirt. "Why didn't we do that?"

"Because he was drunk," Zayn replies. "And you're drunk."

"So're you." Louis lifts her head. "Aren't you?"

"Not really, love."

"You should be. Being drunk is excellent." Louis leans against Zayn's shoulder. "Drunk Marcel is extra excellent."

"I know," Zayn replies with a soft laugh. "It was nice to get him out of his shell a bit."

"D'you think he would've minded if we'd tried to kiss him?" Louis asks.

"Umm…"

"Not like, both of us at once," Louis adds. "That might've been a bit much. But like… you know… what if we'd gone for it?"

"Louis," Zayn says.

"What?" Louis groans. "It's not _fair_, Zayn. Did you see his mouth??"

"I did."

"Then you know! You can't tell me you weren't thinking about it too."

"Thinking about what? Kissing him?"

"Yes!" Louis huffs. "It's just not fair, Zayn! No boy should have lips that fucking pink. Bloody distracting, I'm telling you."

Zayn snickers softly. "I thought you handled yourself quite well."

"Thank you." Louis preens. "It was fucking hard, you know."

"I'm sure it was." Louis looks up at Zayn for a moment and then bursts into giggles. "What? Louis, _what_?"

"D'you think Marcel was hard?" Louis asks in a loud whisper.

"Oh my god." Zayn covers her face with one hand and Louis cackles loudly. "Is sex all you think about?"

"No," Louis replies, still laughing.

"I don't believe you, not for one second."

"Oh, please." Louis rolls on top of Zayn, pinning her down to the bed as she straddles Zayn's waist. "You're one to talk, y'know. Don't think I don't know what goes on in that mind of yours."

"Oh really?" Zayn bats Louis' hand away from her head. "What am I thinking about?"

"Hmm…" Louis clicks her tongue. "You're thinking about Marcel."

Zayn rolls her eyes. "We were just talking about him, you idiot—"

"You're thinking about _kissing_ him." Louis smirks. "And maybe him kissing me."

Zayn swallows. She keeps looking up at Louis, whose eyes suddenly don't look as glassy as they did a minute ago.

"You two would look so good together," Louis says, her voice dropping lower as she drags her hands down Zayn's chest. She cups Zayn's breasts for a moment and lets them go, sliding down further to get her hands under Zayn's shirt. "I bet he would've let you kiss him at the pub."

"Is that right?" Zayn says, her voice slightly strained. "Would you have just sat there and watched us?"

"For a bit, yeah." Louis hums as she traces invisible lines across Zayn's stomach. "Not forever, though. Can't let you two have all the fun."

"Obviously," Zayn says breathlessly. She sits up, jostling Louis a bit but keeping her in her lap as she attaches her mouth to Louis' neck. Louis moans softly as Zayn starts sucking her skin and letting her hands roam across Louis' backside under her skirt. "What else?" Zayn breathes out, her lips dragging across the tendon in Louis' neck.

"H-He…" Louis moans as Zayn touches her. "He'd probably be a bit shy, a-at first. Need a bit of warming up."

"Yeah?" Zayn groans. "What would you do?"

"I'd guide his hands," Louis says as she puts hers on top of Zayn's and encourages a tighter grip. "Let him touch me all over."

"Right there in the pub?" Zayn nips at Louis' collarbone. "Naughty girl."

"You love it," Louis breathes.

"I do," Zayn agrees. She takes her hands out from under Louis' skirt and tugs her shirt over her head, undoing the clasp of Louis' bra a moment later. She presses her mouth to Louis' breasts and they both moan. "But would Marcel?"

"He would," Louis answers tightly. "But he'd probably still be shy. Go all red, like he does, y'know?"

Zayn makes a soft noise of agreement, her mouth otherwise occupied around one of Louis' nipples. Her hands disappear under Louis' skirt again, this time to rub between her legs where Louis' knickers are already soaked. Louis moans breathlessly and Zayn lifts her head, teasing the tip of her tongue against Louis' breast as their eyes meet.

"And then?"

"I-I'd take him to the loo. Get him away from everyone else." Louis cries out when Zayn bites the sensitive skin of her breast. "Except you, _obviously_."

"Obviously," Zayn echoes, soothing the spot she bit with her lips and tongue.

"Imagine how good he'd look on his knees," Louis says, far too casual for someone who's half-naked and this turned on already.

Zayn groans, her eyes fluttering shut at the visual in her head. She turns suddenly, throwing Louis down onto her back against the mattress. There's hardly time for Louis to breathe before Zayn's tugging her knickers down her thighs and making herself comfortable between her legs.

"Zayn," she whispers as Zayn pushes her skirt up and her legs further apart.

"Keep talking," Zayn says as she lowers her head, touching the tip of her tongue to Louis' clit in the lightest way possible. Louis groans, twisting her hands in the sheets as she tries to gather her thoughts.

"I bet he'd be all eager about it," she says. "Just… just fucking go for it, tongue first." Louis gasps as Zayn presses her tongue against her, using her fingers to keep her open wide. "God, yes, j-just like that. He'd keep doing that until I was dripping wet… and then… oh, _god_, Zayn…"

"What?" Zayn asks, barely lifting her mouth at all.

"He'd use his fingers," Louis says, her voice going high and desperate. "They're so long, they'd fill me up so well."

Zayn pushes two fingers into Louis as far as they'll go, and gets a scream of pleasure in return. She starts thrusting them as she licks Louis faster, making her lose all control of her words as her body shakes.

Louis screams as she comes, clenching tightly around Zayn's fingers. She's panting, desperately trying to catch her breath as Zayn crawls up from between her legs with a smug smile. Louis opens her eyes just in time to see Zayn bend down to kiss her, and she licks the taste of herself out of Zayn's mouth.

"What about me?" Zayn murmurs. "Don't I get to have any fun with Marcel?"

"Well…" Louis takes a deep breath and lets it out slowly. "I'm sure he'd just _hate_ to be thought of as rude, wouldn't he?"

"Oh, definitely." Zayn nods. "Couldn't live with himself, I'm sure."

"In that case…" Louis flips Zayn onto her back and rucks her shirt up to get her hands on the waistband of Zayn's shorts. "It's only right that he share the wealth, innit?"

Afterwards, when they're both sweaty and panting with the sheets of Zayn's bed all twisted around them, an idea pops into Louis' head.

"What if…"

"What if what?" Zayn asks.

"What if…" Louis trails off again, waiting for Zayn to look at her before she'll continue, "Marcel _did_ want us?"

"What?"

"You heard me." Louis rolls onto her stomach and props her chin up in the palm of her hand. "Remember what he said tonight?"

"Yeah, but…" Zayn laughs a little. "He was drunk. And you were flirting."

"So were you!" Louis flicks Zayn's nipple and Zayn slaps her hand away. "I'm serious, Zayn."

"You're mad," Zayn replies. "You're just going to scare him off again."

"I'm _not_," Louis insists. "I'm not taking the piss, alright? I just…" Louis looks down and twists her fingers together in a nervous habit. "I dunno. I like him."

Zayn rolls onto her side, moving closer to Louis. She takes one of Louis' hands in her own and tugs on it until Louis looks her in the eye, and they both smile.

"I like him too," Zayn says. "Tonight was fun."

"It was," Louis agrees. "I want more nights like that. Even if it's just the three of us hanging out and not…"

"Not having sex?" Zayn suggests.

"Well…" Louis rolls her eyes. "I wouldn't say _no_ to sex, but I'll take what I can get."

"Oh, thanks." Zayn scoffs.

"You know what I mean!" Louis tackles Zayn back down against the bed and hugs her tightly. "You're not a consolation prize, y'know."

"I'd better not be," Zayn replies.

"You're not," Louis huffs. Zayn smiles and presses a kiss to Louis' hair.

"Neither are you."


	2. The Bet

Monday morning finds Zayn as it usually does: sleepy and frustrated that the weekend is over and she's back at work already. She waits for Louis outside the building, only slightly worried over the fact that Louis wasn't already there when she arrived. It's not like Louis to be late for work, especially given that she lives so close by. Zayn's usually the one cutting it close, rushing up with just a few minutes before she's officially late for the work day.

When Louis shows up, Zayn immediately knows why she wasn't on time this morning.

"Louis," she says with awe as she stares unabashedly. Her mouth stays open even as no further words come out of it, and Louis smiles wickedly back at her.

"What do you think?" she says, twirling around on her heel and striking a pose.

The thing is that to Zayn, Louis is gorgeous in just about every way. It doesn't matter what she's wearing (or not wearing), what sort of mood she's in, or whether she's massively hungover. But today she can tell that Louis put extra effort into her look because it _shows_.

"I _think_," Zayn starts as she steps in close to whisper into Louis' ear, "that we best be careful today or else we'll get written up by HR."

Louis laughs delightedly, reaching around to pinch Zayn's bum before she steps through the front door to their office building. Zayn follows in a daze, just barely remembering to tear her eyes away from Louis' bum when other people are around the two of them.

Zayn keeps quiet in the lift while Louis chats away with one of their co-workers, a man Zayn's seen numerous times around the office but in the moment she can't even think of what his first name begins with. Arousal is thrumming through every part of her body and it's taking literally everything in her not to grab Louis and make their way to the nearest empty office.

_Stop it,_ Zayn tells herself as she closes her eyes and takes a deep breath. _You're a professional, you can get through the work day without tearing Lou's clothes off_.

Zayn opens her eyes to see that Louis is looking at her, the wicked smile still hanging across her lips. Zayn bites firmly down on her own, clenching her fist to keep from reaching out in the crowded lift.

Bypassing the break room entirely, Zayn heads for her cubicle in the hopes that Louis won't follow. It's entirely futile, however, since Louis _always_ follows.

"You're awfully quiet this morning," she muses, going so far as to actually follow Zayn into the cubicle and lean against the far side of her desk.

"I am not," Zayn replies as she goes about turning on her computer, keeping her eyes on the monitor rather than turning around to face Louis.

"Are too," Louis says as she scoots closer. She pushes on the armrest of Zayn's chair, turning it towards her so Zayn can't avoid looking at her anymore. "What, you don't like my outfit?"

Zayn unconsciously licks her lips as she looks up at Louis, who looks back at her with her bottom lip jutted out in the most ridiculous of pouts. Zayn balls up her left hand in a fist and then stretches out her fingers, teasing them against Louis' stocking-covered thigh until she reaches the hem of her extremely short skirt.

"You know I do," she says, her voice low. "It's very… distracting."

"I thought you'd like it," Louis replies as she bends at the waist and leans towards Zayn, showing off even more of her impressive cleavage. "You know who else I thought might like it?"

Zayn tilts her head, her eyes asking the question her mouth can't quite manage.

"Marcel," Louis purrs.

An involuntary laugh escapes Zayn's mouth and she quickly covers her mouth, ducking her head as she turns away from Louis.

"What?"

"Nothing," Zayn says, her mouth twisting in amusement at the indignant tone of Louis' voice.

Louis clicks her tongue and huffs softly. "Just wait, you'll see."

She leaves Zayn's cubicle and saunters down the aisle towards Marcel's, giving Zayn just enough time to wheel her chair over to the opening of her cubicle so she can watch.

Marcel's back is to both Louis and Zayn, which means he's caught completely off-guard when Louis steps into his cubicle to say good morning. He jumps so violently that he nearly knocks his keyboard off his desk entirely and upends a mostly full mug onto the floor. Zayn has to cover her mouth to keep from laughing too loudly when Marcel spins around in his chair to pick up the mug, only to immediately spin back towards his computer when he realizes Louis is kneeling right behind him.

He certainly wasn't expecting to face that sort of view this early in the morning.

Zayn shakes her head as she rolls back into her cubicle, presuming that whatever Louis was trying to accomplish is now a lost cause. Hardly a minute goes by before she's interrupted by Louis once again coming into her cubicle uninvited.

She doesn't say anything, she just huffs loudly and crosses her arms as she leans against Zayn's desk. Out of the corner of her eye Zayn can see a look of determination on Louis' face. She keeps darting her eyes over to check and see if Zayn is looking at her, and when seconds pass without Zayn saying anything at all, Louis huffs again.

"Shouldn't you be going to your own desk?" Zayn asks in an amused tone as she slowly turns towards Louis. "Y'know, to do your job?"

Louis' mouth twists somewhere between a frown and a smirk. She taps her fingers against the side of her arm a few times before suddenly leaning over Zayn's keyboard and opening up her calendar. She doesn't have anything going on today and when Louis sees this, she gives a soft, triumphant laugh.

"Keep ten o'clock open," she says as she straightens up, adjusting the hem of her skirt. "We've got things to discuss."

"What?" Zayn asks, but it's too late. Louis has already left the cubicle.

Five minutes later a meeting invitation pings in Zayn's inbox. She sighs when she sees it's from Louis, but she can't deny the part of her that's relieved. Louis' outfit really doesn't leave much to Zayn's already vivid imagination and she was really starting to wonder whether it was possible to get through an entire workday without getting into her pants.

Zayn's work is mediocre at best until five minutes to ten, when she locks her computer and makes a quick trip to the ladies' room. She arrives at the conference room with fresh breath at ten o'clock on the dot, and she's only mildly disappointed to see Louis sitting at the table scribbling on an actual pad of paper.

"Did I miss something?" Zayn asks as she closes the door behind her. "Is this actually work-related?"

Louis looks up from the pad and grins widely. She carefully sets down the pen onto the table and tears off the top sheet from the pad of paper, sliding it across the table for Zayn to take. Keeping her eyes on Louis, Zayn tentatively steps forward and picks it up.

She glances at the paper for a few seconds, reading only the first line before she's looking at Louis again with curiosity in her eyes.

"The bet?" she asks.

"Keep reading," Louis says as she leans back in her chair, pushing it away from the table a few inches and revealing her lower half.

Sitting down makes her skirt even shorter, but Zayn forces her eyes back to the paper. What she discovers is that Louis has apparently spent either the whole morning or the last several minutes devising a plan that revolves entirely around Marcel.

And getting his pants off.

"Lou, what is this?" Zayn asks, brandishing the paper before she tosses it onto the table. "If anyone from HR finds it--"

"They won't," Louis says as she snatches it back.

"--you could get sacked."

"_They won't_," Louis repeats as she quickly folds the paper up and sticks it into her cleavage. "What d'you think?"

"I think you're mad." Zayn laughs. "He's a human being, y'know. You can't just go around--"

"Oh, Zayn, c'mon," Louis interrupts. "Don't turn this into something sinister when it's not."

"Isn't it?"

Louis rolls her eyes. "_No_, you numpty. We're not going to string him along and then publicly humiliate him. This isn't some 90s teen movie."

Zayn shakes her head as she laughs. Sometimes she certainly feels like she's on camera when she's around Louis.

"Think of it more as us putting in extra effort into welcoming a new member of our team," Louis says, propping her feet up on the table. The action hikes her skirt up even more and Zayn's eyes are immediately drawn to it.

"He's not even on your team," Zayn reminds her.

"The _company_ team," Louis amends. "Don't you want to help your fellow man?"

She leans further back in her chair, putting stress on the buttons of her blouse as they struggle to keep the fabric clasped together across her chest. Zayn's mouth starts to water but she swallows hard, and when she speaks there's a defiant edge to her voice.

"How is this going to help him, exactly?"

"We'll get him out of his shell," Louis says, taking her feet down off the table. "Help him feel more comfortable," she continues, standing up from her chair and leaning over the table towards Zayn. "It'll be good for him, you'll see."

"How does one win this bet?" Zayn asks as she lets her eyes wander up and down Louis's body. When they makes it back to Louis' face, she sees a grin.

"I think you'll know when you've won."

Zayn's lips twitch, aching to match the smile on Louis' face. "And the prize?"

"First dibs," Louis tilts her head, "but the winner has to be willing to share."

Zayn licks her lips and Louis tracks the movement with her eyes. The room feels too warm and Zayn's hands shake as she clutches the edge of the table, leaning towards Louis while still keeping a short distance between them.

"What were the rules again?" she asks. Louis chuckles as she reaches up and unbuttons her blouse.

"Come find out."

*

Tuesday mornings seems to be even tougher for Zayn than Monday mornings, especially when Louis is already waiting for her outside of their office building wearing significantly more than she was yesterday. Zayn tries and fails not to show her disappointment on her face and Louis playfully coos at her.

"Poor Zayn," she says as they enter the building, "having to rely on your own imagination."

"Shut up," Zayn mutters as her cheeks go pink.

"It's not _my_ fault you ripped my skirt yesterday," Louis continues, perfectly content to say whatever the fuck she's thinking no matter who's around.

"Lou!" Zayn chastises as they wait for the lift amongst several of their fellow coworkers.

"What?" Louis scoffs a little but drops her voice anyway. "It's true. You _did_ rip--"

Zayn clasps her hand over Louis' mouth, shaking her head when Louis wiggles her eyebrows. She takes her hand away when the lift doors open and they shuffle in, but the deed's already done and Louis knows it. Zayn can't stop thinking about the day before.

"Menace," she mutters loud enough for Louis to hear as she pulls her hair away from the back of her neck. She's feeling hot already even though the lift isn't even half full.

It's frustrating to be turned on this early in the morning, especially when Zayn can't even _do_ anything about it. She's got a pile of work to do this morning thanks to the "meeting" that ran far too long the day before. (Not that she was complaining during said meeting, mind. As far as both she and Louis are concerned, that meeting was _very_ productive.)

Louis, of course, looks so proud of herself she could probably sing about it if she really wanted to. Zayn wouldn't even put it past her to do so, though she'd probably die of embarrassment on the spot.

Surprisingly, Louis doesn't follow Zayn to her cubicle like she normally does. Zayn pauses for a moment when Louis suddenly leaves her side, watching her back with a confused expression as Louis walks away. On the other hand, it gives Zayn an excellent view of Louis' arse in her trousers _and_ it means she might actually get her work done this morning, so Zayn brushes it off and continues on to her own cubicle.

There's a meeting invitation waiting in Zayn's inbox when she finally sits down at her desk and boots up her computer, and a thrill runs up her spine. For a moment, she thinks Louis has sent her another one even though they _swore_ they couldn't do two meetings two days in a row. They can't draw too much attention to themselves.

Even with that in mind, Zayn's still a bit let down when she sees the meeting invite is actually from her superior for Friday afternoon, and it's about the annual company picnic.

"Oh, _shit_," Zayn grumbles under her breath as she scrolls through the rest of the email. In the back of her mind she'd known the picnic was coming up, but she'd completely forgotten that it was her department's turn to plan the damn thing.

She spares a moment to think about the previous year's picnic that Louis' department had planned and her eyes glaze over just a little. Truth be told, she doesn't remember a whole lot of the actual picnic, and it's entirely Louis' fault.

Zayn shakes her head and clears her throat as she moves her cursor across her screen, intending to hit "accept" and get on with her work, when it passes over a certain name. _Marcel_.

Obviously, it makes sense that he'd be in on this meeting; they work in the same department. But the idea of Zayn and Marcel being in a room together for an extended period of time, especially when their department is fairly small to begin with, sends another thrill up her spine.

She takes a moment and pushes her chair back from her desk, getting to her feet just enough so she can peer over the side of her cubicle and glance in the direction of Marcel's. She can't really see anything but the glow from the top of his computer screen before she sits back down again and curses under her breath.

"Get a hold of yourself," she mutters, clicking "accept" and forcing herself to move on with her day.

*

Lunchtime is a welcome relief despite the level of productivity Zayn manages to maintain throughout the morning. There's not a single interruption from Louis nor any of her other coworkers which is both strange and unusual but an absolute relief. There's a very good chance Zayn hasn't been this productive in a single morning since her first year with the company. (She puts 93% of the blame on Louis for that, she's just very distracting when she wants to be.)

True to form, Louis pops up at her cubicle two minutes past twelve o'clock with a broad smile. She taps her foot a few times when Zayn doesn't immediately get up from her desk, her smile sliding into innocence when Zayn turns around to give her a look.

"C'mon, I've been good all morning," Louis says, the tone of her voice on the edge of a whine. "Haven't you missed me?"

"Of course," Zayn replies sarcastically, though if she were to tell the truth she _did_ miss Louis. But she'd never admit it aloud because Louis would just be even more insufferable and Zayn may actually have to kiss her in front of the entire company to get her to shut up.

A thought pops into her head as she gets up from her desk and starts to follow Louis down the row of cubicles, but it's quickly squashed when they pass by Marcel's desk and he's nowhere to be found. Zayn pauses for just long enough that Louis notices, and immediately gets curious.

"What?"

"What?" Zayn echoes, going a bit wide-eyed as she urges Louis to keep moving.

"Why'd you stop?" Louis asks, looking back over her shoulder despite Zayn's hand at the small of her back urging her forward.

"No reason."

"Liar."

"It's nothing," Zayn says pleadingly as they reach the lift.

"It's not nothing," Louis replies, "or else you wouldn't have that look on your face."

"What look?"

"The sad puppy look." Zayn turns her face away from Louis as the doors open, but Louis isn't deterred. "You're doing it right now."

"I am not."

"Are too."

"Am not."

"Are too," Louis says with a huff. She waits until the lift doors close and they're alone before she gently pushes Zayn up against the wall and kisses her. "Tell me what's wrong."

"Nothing's wrong," Zayn insists, chasing Louis' mouth when she pulls away.

"Ah, ah, ah. You're lying." Louis clicks her tongue and Zayn groans loudly.

"_Fine_. I just thought _maybe_ it'd be nice to invite Marcel to lunch with us. That's all."

"Aww, babe." Louis pouts a little before she gives Zayn another kiss. "You big softie."

"Shut up," Zayn says, catching Louis' mouth with her own one more time before they reach the ground floor.

The cafe is its usual hustle and bustle at lunchtime, but Zayn and Louis make their way through the line for food in a reasonable amount of time and find a table just for the two of them fairly easily. Louis tells Zayn all about the morning she had, which apparently was very stressful indeed and it'll continue after lunch with several more meetings.

"It's just _awful_, Zayn, really."

"Mhm, sounds like it," Zayn replies as she plays with the remnants of her lunch rather than eating the last few bits. She's not exactly paying attention to the tail end of Louis' story but she suspects she doesn't have to.

"You should've heard what that dickhead said!" Louis continues with an angry huff. Zayn hums and nods as Louis goes on about someone Zayn has never and will never meet, and therefore doesn't have to care about in the least. Still, she does feel a bit guilty about her mind wandering off and her eyes soon following.

Zayn spots a familiar figure out of the corner of her eye and it intrigues her. To her knowledge, Marcel's never come down to the cafe before. She catches him looking in their direction but he doesn't seem to realize she's seen him. He gets in the queue to buy a meal and Zayn turns her attention back to Louis.

She's still going on about her team, but she pauses briefly when Zayn scoots her chair to the left and hooks her foot around Louis' ankle under the table. One corner of Louis' mouth turns upwards in a smirk as Zayn leans forward, smiling innocently as she puts her chin in the palm of her hand. She's leaning over the table and using it to her advantage, watching Louis' eyes drop down to her cleavage.

"What're you doing?" Louis asks softly.

"I'm not doing anything," Zayn lies, still smiling.

"You're a liar," Louis replies. Regardless, she scoots closer to Zayn and picks up her drink in one hand, sticking out her tongue earlier and far more lewdly than necessary to take a sip.

Zayn laughs, pretending to be embarrassed so she can turn her head and see where Marcel's gone. He's still in the queue, having hardly moved at all, and he's looking right at them. It's obvious he's trying not to, that he's trying to be nonchalant about it, but he's failing miserably and Zayn couldn't be happier about it.

"I thought you didn't want to start more rumors," Louis whispers, bringing Zayn's attention back to her.

"Doesn't count if it's the same bloody rumor, does it?" Zayn replies, quickly raising her eyebrows once in a challenge.

Louis grins and leans in closer to Zayn. "Careful, now."

"Why?"

"I might not be able to control myself," Louis whispers as one of her hands disappears from view. Zayn feels it on her knee a moment later and she tries her best not to jump in surprise, but it's hard when Louis' nails dig into her skin.

"Lou," she warns softly.

"You started it," Louis replies as her touch becomes softer. Her fingers dance upwards along the inside of Zayn's thigh, gently pushing her legs apart the higher she goes.

Zayn looks over at Marcel again and even with the distance she can see how red his face is getting. He's got a tray now, but he's holding it down near his waist as if he's trying to cover himself up. He must be able to see exactly where Louis' hand is going.

Although she hadn't really thought out this plan at the beginning, Zayn's pleased to see that it seems to be working rather well. She turns her attention back to Louis and reaches out to tuck her hair behind her ear. Louis smiles at her and squeezes her thigh as she looks at Zayn's mouth, licking her own lips and drawing Zayn's eyes to them.

"You've got something," Zayn says as she cups Louis' chin with the palm of her hand, pressing her thumb into the corner of Louis' mouth.

There's nothing there, they both know it. But it doesn't stop Louis from licking the pad of Zayn's thumb anyway.

Suddenly there's a loud noise from across the cafe and both of them turn to see what happened. Zayn presses her hand over her mouth to keep from laughing as she sees Marcel scrambling to pick up his tray while apologizing profusely to everyone around him.

In the midst of the commotion Louis takes her hand back from between Zayn's legs and flicks her nail against Zayn's knee. The sting is sharp enough that Zayn turns away from Marcel and back to Louis, who's smirking and shaking her head.

"You knew he was watching, didn't you?"

"I don't know what you're--"

"Zayn," Louis says, cutting her off and giving her a look. Zayn's mouth twists and she shrugs.

"Maybe."

"You slag," Louis says with a laugh, flicking Zayn's knee again. "Next time you should _tell me_ so I can play along."

"You played along perfectly," Zayn replies as she takes Louis' hand away from her knee and holds onto it tightly. "Didn't even have to tell you to."

"Yeah, well," Louis says as she shifts in her chair a little. "I thought it was going somewhere."

"Who said it wasn't?" Zayn asks, tilting her head to the side and giving Louis a wicked smile. Louis' eyes go slightly dark as Zayn stands up, keeping her grip on Louis' hand and slowly pulling her to her feet as well.

Neither of them look over their shoulders as they leave the cafe, heading to the cloakroom on the third floor. They've still got fifteen minutes left on their lunch and Zayn intends to put those minutes to very good use.

As soon as the door shuts behind them Zayn pushes Louis up against it and kisses her hard. Louis moans and her hands immediately go down to Zayn's arse, gathering up the fabric of her skirt to get at what's underneath.

Louis wastes no time as she tugs Zayn's underwear down around her thighs and slides two fingers into her, humming in satisfaction when Zayn cries out softly against her neck. It's harder for Zayn to get at what she wants, given Louis is wearing trousers of all things.

"You first," Louis gasps as Zayn pulls her blouse open instead. She pulls the cup of Louis' bra down and presses her whole hand against Louis' breast, kneading it with her fingers before she starts paying special attention to her nipple.

Louis closes her eyes and gasps, pushing her fingers deeper into Zayn and relishing in the arousal she feels when Zayn moans again. Louis slides her leg between Zayn's, giving her something steady to grind against as she fucks herself on Louis' fingers.

"Jesus," Zayn breathes, panting harshly into Louis' neck. "Lou, I need--"

"What?" Louis asks, her mouth at Zayn's ear. "Tell me what you need."

"You," Zayn whines. "Talk to me, please."

Louis groans. "You love my mouth, don't you? Love it more when I'm licking you or when I'm doing this? Telling you how much I love feeling you like this?"

"Yeah," Zayn whimpers, pressing her face against Louis' neck as she jerks her hips faster against Louis' hand.

"So needy," Louis moans, "so desperate for it, babe. I love it. C'mon, show me how good you are. Show me what you were so eager to show Marcel downstairs."

Zayn moans louder, shaking all over as she comes. She slumps against Louis, heavy and spent, groaning softly into her skin. Louis smiles to herself and starts pressing kisses to Zayn's cheek, gently coaxing her to stand on her own.

They switch places, Zayn's back against the door as she tries to pull herself back together. She has every intention of returning the favor just as soon as her legs stop shaking. Louis goes down to her knees and disappears under Zayn's skirt before Zayn can manage to ask what she's doing.

She barely gets Louis' name out of her mouth before she's moaning again with Louis' mouth on her. Zayn's hands scramble against the door for some sort of support, one landing on the doorknob and the other pressed up against the surface above her head. Louis props one of Zayn's legs over her shoulder, giving her better access.

"Lou, what're you doing?" Zayn asks breathlessly, even though she knows full well what Louis is doing. She's cleaning up after herself, and she's going to make Zayn absolutely useless for the rest of the day.

Zayn comes even faster the second time. Her legs feel like absolute jelly when Louis stands back up, licking her lips with a smugness in her eyes. Even though she feels fit to collapse, Zayn throbs with arousal and wishes they could just leave work entirely and spend the rest of the afternoon in bed.

"You're a menace," she breathes out.

"You love it," Louis says as she leans forward and kisses her. Zayn clutches her tightly, pressing their bodies together as close as they can get.

"Take off your trousers," she says, just a hint of begging in her tone.

"Can't," Louis replies, pecking Zayn's lips lightly before stepping back and fixing her blouse. "I've got a meeting to get to."

Zayn knocks her head back against the door. "You can't be serious."

"Some of us have work to do, Zayn." Louis is smirking and Zayn _hates_ her for it.

"You bloody tease."

"Says the girl who just came twice," Louis says as she runs her fingers through her hair. "Think you might've got that backwards."

"I'd gladly return the favor," Zayn says as she pushes herself away from the door and hooks a finger through Louis' belt loop. "If you take off your stupid trousers."

"No time, love." Louis kisses her cheek. "I'm sure you'll make it up to me."

Louis steps around Zayn and goes to open the door, but pauses when Zayn says her name.

"Come home with me tonight?" she asks. Louis grins.

"Abso-fucking-lutely."

Marcel is back in his cubicle when Zayn returns, having made a quick stop at the ladies' room. It's very possible she still smells a bit like sex, but she cleaned herself up as best she could. She passes by Marcel on the way to her own cubicle, but gets an idea and then turns back around.

"Hey," she says casually, catching his attention before she steps into his cubicle.

"H-Hi," he says in return, moving his chair so she has room to stand beside him.

There's no actual reason for Zayn to be in Marcel's cubicle, but she thinks quick enough on her feet to make up some stupid yet plausible question and give herself a decent enough alibi. The real purpose behind this is to test out her theory.

She leans close to Marcel when she shows him a specific spreadsheet on his computer, brushing his shoulder with her arm and grazing his hand with her own. Their faces are inches away from each other when she turns to make sure he understands what she's asking. She can see the intensity of the color in his cheeks, the slight quiver to his lip when he answers her.

Zayn also catches the split second when he accidentally stares right down her shirt. She makes no indication that she did, instead smiling warmly at him and thanking him for answering her question. Before she leaves his cubicle she pauses, saying his name and waiting for him to turn around.

"Y-Yeah?" he asks, adjusting his glasses as he clears his throat.

"You know you can come to me with questions too, right? About anything."

Marcel swallows harshly and flushes a deep red. "Uh-huh, yeah, I-I know."

"Good." Zayn smiles brightly at him.

The moment she returns to her cubicle, Zayn pulls out her phone and texts Louis. _I think I may have cracked the Marcel code_.

Louis won't see her text for a while if she's really in a meeting, but it's okay. Zayn knows they'll have plenty of time to talk later tonight.


	3. The Plan

By the time the meeting on Friday afternoon rolls around, Zayn is in a wretched mood. The last thing she wants to do is spend the next two hours in a conference room with her boss and the other members of her team but unfortunately she doesn't have a choice. The only thing she can take solace in is that as soon as the meeting's over, there will only be half an hour left of the workday and then she can go _home_.

She's hoping Louis will agree to come home with her, knowing having Louis around will definitely cheer her up. She can't imagine Louis would say no, especially given that they've gone home together nearly every Friday night for as long as Zayn can remember.

But first, she has to get through this meeting.

Zayn gets up from her desk when the five minute reminder pops up on her computer screen. She locks her computer and grabs a pad of paper and a pen, grumbling to herself as she exits her cubicle and makes her way down the aisle. As she's passing by Marcel's cubicle he stands up so suddenly that it has a chain reaction of startling both Zayn and Marcel himself.

"Jesus," Zayn mutters as she presses her hand to the center of her chest, laughing a bit when she sees the look of complete panic on Marcel's face.

"I'm so sorry," he splutters. "I didn't mean to--"

"It's alright," she replies. She gently lays a hand on Marcel's shoulder in an effort to calm him down, but his cheeks go even darker when she touches him. Zayn bites her lip in an effort not to smile as she takes her hand back, hugging her pad of paper to her chest as she lets Marcel get a hold of himself.

"Y-You going to the meeting?" he asks, swallowing harshly as his eyes flicker back and forth between Zayn's and a dozen other spots around them. He can't seem to decide whether he wants to make eye contact or not and it's making it harder for Zayn not to smile.

"Yeah, I was heading there now." She tilts her head a little and nods in the direction of the conference rooms. "Join me?"

Marcel pushes his glasses up the bridge of his nose before he nods, and Zayn finally cracks a smile. She waits a few seconds for him to grab a notepad of his own and then they walk silently side by side to the conference room.

As they walk, Zayn thinks back to the conversation about Marcel that she'd had with Louis a few nights ago. Zayn had told her how Marcel had reacted better to smaller, subtler flirtatious moves rather than the fairly strong way that Louis had been coming on to him and they'd both agreed that they might get further using Zayn's approach. Ever since, Zayn's been dropping in on Marcel as often as she can tear herself away from her work at her desk (which, admittedly, is not as often as Louis would like) and the results have been quite promising, or so Zayn thinks.

There's still a small voice in the back of Zayn's head that isn't entirely on board with Louis' plan, but Zayn just keeps reminding herself that this isn't a prank. They're not setting Marcel up for any sort of public embarrassment. It's just a slightly odd way to encourage him to open up a bit more, is all.

She lets Marcel enter the conference room first despite his attempt to be a gentleman and let her go before him.

"I insist," she says, stepping aside to let Marcel pass through the doorway. He clears his throat as he goes in, keeping his head down instead of saying anything to the other members of their team who are already in the conference room.

Zayn follows, shutting the door behind her once she sees that the two of them are apparently the last ones to make it to the meeting. Their department isn't big enough to warrant using the largest conference room, but even the table in the mid-level room has enough chairs that Zayn has her pick of several remaining spots at the table.

She waits until Marcel's chosen his own seat and then goes to the other side of the table and sits down in the chair directly across from him. Even without looking at him Zayn knows Marcel is watching her, but when she does glance in his direction he quickly looks away and pretends like he wasn't just caught staring.

Zayn smiles, but her attention is drawn away quickly when their boss starts the meeting. He gives a quick rundown of the previous year's picnic and passes out budget information around the table, before singling out Marcel (much to Marcel's horror).

"Obviously, since you're new to the company, we'll have you partner up with someone so they can ensure you've got things under control."

Zayn tries not to roll her eyes but it's incredibly hard not to react when her boss is being so incredibly condescending. He's trying to pass it off as being helpful or some such bullshit, but _really_? It's a bloody picnic, for fuck's sake, it's not the Brits.

"I'll do it," Zayn offers, surprising everyone around the table.

"What's that?"

"I'll partner with Marcel," Zayn explains, biting down a snide remark. Maybe she _has_ been spending too much time with Louis lately. "I don't mind."

"Oh, excellent!" Their boss chuckles. "That was easy!"

Zayn immediately tunes him out as he goes on, requesting ideas for caterers and entertainment, and turns her attention back to Marcel.

His cheeks are pink and he's scribbling down notes as though this meeting were actually important, and Zayn can't help but smile fondly. But as she continues to look at him, there's a voice in her head that sounds suspiciously like Louis telling her that it's time to mess around a bit.

The table's width is thin enough, Zayn discovers, that she can stretch out her leg and reach Marcel with her foot without drawing too much attention to herself. She still looks like she's sitting perfectly normally in her chair as she slips her heel off, but the moment her foot brushes against Marcel's leg he jumps as though he's been shocked.

"You alright, lad?"

"Y-Yes, sir." Marcel clears his throat and smiles nervously at their boss. "Sorry."

Zayn does it again, and this time Marcel doesn't jump. He looks directly at her and she doesn't look away, smiling as she brings her pen up to her mouth and draws his attention there. She continues rubbing her foot against Marcel's ankle and tries directing his attention elsewhere, namely down the line of her throat and towards her cleavage.

Marcel's eyes follow, his cheeks turning redder by the second. Zayn moves her foot further up Marcel's leg and she feels him moving forward, pulling his chair as close to the table as he can. If she keeps going, soon her foot will slip between his thighs.

But the spell is broken when their boss addresses Zayn directly and Marcel scoots his chair backwards again.

"Sorry?" she says, trying not to let her frustration sneak into her tone of voice.

"I asked if you two would be alright with booking the venue and handling the decor." He glances at Marcel briefly and then back to Zayn. "That's not too much, is it?"

"Not at all," Zayn answers, smiling politely as she scribbles down some notes. "Same venue as last year, yeah?"

"Perfect." Their boss moves on to someone else and Zayn looks back at Marcel, but he's got his eyes fixed firmly on his own notepad.

She tries not to be disappointed, but it doesn't work very well at all.

Marcel doesn't look at her once during the rest of the meeting, and Zayn doesn't try to catch his attention. She wonders if maybe she took it too far, if she'd made the same mistake that Louis did in Marcel's first week at the office.

When the meeting is over, Zayn watches as Marcel quickly gathers up his things and leaves the room first. She takes her time in getting up from her own chair, deciding that maybe it's best to give him a bit of space. Maybe it hadn't been such a good idea to volunteer to work with him in the planning process. Zayn can't be sure whether Marcel will ever actually look at her again.

She passes by his cubicle without stopping, heading straight back to her own desk as her mind continues to work itself into a tizzy over what just happened. There's no way she'll be getting any more actual work done in the last half an hour of the day, but she unlocks her computer anyway just in case someone comes to check on her.

While she's attempting to come up with a way to apologize to Marcel, an email pops up in her inbox. She expects it to be from her boss, most likely detailing the points of the meeting as though they weren't all in there together. But she's surprised to find that it's actually from Marcel.

There's no greeting, just a single question that probably could've been asked just as easy in person.

_Should we schedule something for Monday to get the planning done?_

Zayn sighs softly, glancing back over her shoulder in the direction of Marcel's cubicle. She can't see it through the walls of her own, but it doesn't really matter anyway. She turns back to her computer and presses reply, sighing again as she puts her hands to her keyboard.

_Yeah, it should only take an hour or so. Monday at 10?_

Zayn tries not to agonize over her reply for too long, clicking send as quickly as she'll allow herself to do. She shouldn't be overthinking this so much, but now that she's started it's rather hard to stop. Louis certainly wouldn't be overthinking herself like this, she'd already be planning her next move.

A meeting invite pops up a minute or two later, and surprisingly it relaxes Zayn a bit. Marcel's booked the small conference room, the one without any windows that Zayn and Louis know _all too well_, and in the meeting description he's written "_Zayn and Marcel plan a picnic!_" with a little smiley face at the end.

Zayn laughs softly, feeling her cheeks go a bit pink as she clicks accept and watches the meeting pop up on her calendar. Maybe she hasn't ruined things after all.

"What're you smiling at?" Louis' voice pops up out of nowhere behind her, and Zayn jumps a little as she turns around to face her.

"Nothing," Zayn replies as she quickly switches off her computer screen. "What're you doing here?"

"It's Friday," Louis answers plainly. Zayn snorts a little as she rolls her eyes; to Louis, Friday means you stop working with at least twenty minutes left in the day.

"Right," Zayn answers sarcastically. Louis beams as she steps further into Zayn's cubicle and leans back against the desk.

"How was your meeting?"

Zayn shrugs a little. "It was alright."

Now it's Louis' turn to roll her eyes. "You are the absolute _worst_ person to gossip with, d'you know that?"

"You gossip enough for the both of us," Zayn replies as she gently touches Louis' thigh. Louis' eyes track her movement and she slowly slides closer to Zayn.

"Feeling frisky, are we?" she asks in a softer voice. Zayn tilts her head to the side and looks up at Louis through her lashes.

"Maybe," she answers, feeling a thrill when Louis smirks at her.

"Good thing I'm coming home with you tonight, then, isn't it?"

"Mm-hmm." Zayn bites her lip and presses her fingers into Louis' thigh a little harder. Louis leans over, putting her mouth to Zayn's ear as she puts one of her hands on top of Zayn's.

"Bet you'll tell me more after I loosen you up with my tongue."

Zayn shivers a bit and Louis chuckles knowingly in her ear. There's not even that much to tell Louis, but it doesn't matter. Zayn knows that anything she says after Louis' had her way with her will be more than enough to spur another round.

*

The day that was picked for the picnic turns out to be bright and sunny, with the air outside warm enough that Zayn chooses a dress to wear rather than jeans and a plain t-shirt. Since the work day is cut in half for the picnic in the afternoon, the usual business casual dress code is switched to entirely casual dress. This, of course, means Louis comes into work wearing a sundress that _has_ to be at least two sizes too small.

Not that Zayn's complaining, of course. She just silently wishes that all of their other co-workers would stop gawking at her.

It's been happening steadily over the last few weeks, this new possessive streak. They've still never had the proper relationship talk and while it doesn't exactly bother Zayn, she has been thinking about it a lot more lately. The only thing she really knows about her relationship (if she can even call it that) with Louis is that it's exclusive. Or, at least, it is for her. She doesn't know how Louis would have the time to be sleeping with other people given all the time she spends in Zayn's bed outside of work, but still. Zayn can't be sure until she asks.

And Zayn doesn't want to ask for fear of losing the good thing they have.

But then there's Marcel. Zayn likes Marcel, that much is obvious to both her and Louis. And Louis obviously likes him as well, otherwise they wouldn't be doing what they've been doing. But it also means bringing a new person into their dynamic and adding another layer of confusion for all parties involved. The more Zayn gets to know Marcel (which, admittedly, is little by very little) the more she wonders if theirs is the sort of thing he'd even be interested in.

Not everyone is okay with an open relationship, especially when there's been no official talk of labels. Maybe bringing Marcel into what Zayn and Louis have will spur the conversation Zayn's been wanting to have for a while and everything will be alright. Or, on the other hand, it could wreck everything.

Still, most days Zayn tries not to think about it and just enjoys what she and Louis have going. After all, it's a good thing they've got, and Zayn's happy.

The jealousy she was feeling at the beginning of the work day fades away once it's time for the picnic, mostly because Louis latches onto her arm and hardly looks at anyone else. It can be dizzying being the center of Louis' attention, but Zayn can't deny that she loves it.

There's a basket full of picnic blankets near where the food tent is set up, and Louis quickly snatches one for them to use. She then drags Zayn along by the wrist until she finds the perfect spot for their blanket, half under a tree for some shade with the other half basking in the midday sunlight.

Louis lies down on the sunny side of the blanket and moans appreciatively, which in turn makes Zayn steel herself against the desire that washes over her. She is _not_ going to cause a scene at the company picnic.

Instead, Zayn settles down on the other side of the blanket with her back against the tree trunk and watches Louis sunbathe. The silence lasts for a minute at best, because when Louis turns her head towards Zayn and opens her eyes, she can't resist having a laugh.

"What?" Zayn asks, feeling herself blush as Louis continues giggling.

"Nothing," she replies as she rolls over onto her stomach and turns slightly towards Zayn. It gives her an even better view down the front of Louis' dress, and once again Zayn has to hold herself back.

"Enjoying yourself?" Zayn crosses her legs, tugging the hem of her dress down over her thighs.

"Are you?" Louis asks, raising one eyebrow as she tracks Zayn's hands with her eyes. She brings her arms closer together, accentuating her cleavage as she smiles wickedly.

"C'mere," Zayn says finally, holding out her hand towards Louis. It's hardly been five minutes and she's already given up on her own self-imposed no PDA at the picnic rule. She wants to have Louis closer and she simply doesn't care if anyone sees.

The smile on Louis' face doesn't falter for a second as she crawls across the blanket on all fours, gently prying Zayn's legs apart so she can settle between them and lay back against Zayn's chest.

"Should've grabbed another blanket," she muses as she runs her fingers along Zayn's thigh in a manner too deliberate to be considered anything but teasing.

"Why's that?" Zayn asks as she slips her arm around Louis' waist. Louis tilts her head back onto Zayn's shoulder and lightly brushes her lips against Zayn's jaw.

"Because then I could get you off right here," she murmurs. Her hand pulls the skirt of Zayn's dress up a bit further on her thigh, and Zayn moans softly without even realizing she's doing so.

Louis chuckles and presses another kiss to Zayn's jaw before she shifts around a little, so much that she can feel the heat between Zayn's legs against her backside and she digs her fingers into Zayn's thigh.

"You'd like that, wouldn't you?" she breathes hotly against Zayn's skin.

"Yeah," Zayn replies weakly. Her eyes flutter shut and she leans into Louis, breathing in her perfume and entirely forgetting that they're out in public. She's moments away from reaching up and pulling at the buttons on the front of Louis' dress when suddenly Louis turns around.

"Naughty," Louis chides as she taps Zayn's nose with her finger. Zayn opens her eyes and she stares blankly at Louis, who stands up just as suddenly as she pulled away from Zayn.

"What--" Zayn blinks a few times. "Where are you going?"

"I'm going to get us some food," Louis explains with a cheeky smile as she takes a few steps back. "Don't miss me too much," she calls over her shoulder, practically skipping away.

Zayn leans back against the tree trunk and groans in frustration. She should've known Louis would get her all hot and bothered and then _leave_. She closes her eyes again and focuses on breathing in and out until her skin stops feeling like it's on fire. The ache between her legs lessens with every passing second, though Zayn's certain it'll come back as soon as Louis does.

She opens her eyes again when she hears her name, and she finds Marcel standing at the edge of the blanket with a sort of nervous look on his face.

"Hi," she says, clearing her throat and smiling at him.

"Hi," he replies, tugging nervously at his collar. Despite the company-wide memo about the casual dress, Marcel apparently still came to work in his usual attire. His slacks and button-up can't be all that comfortable in the hot summer air, especially with his tie knotted so tight against his neck. "Sorry if I disturbed you, I wasn't sure if you were meditating, or--"

"It's fine," Zayn answers as she tucks her legs underneath her and smoothes out the blanket in front of her. "D'you want to sit?"

"You don't mind?"

Zayn shakes her head. "Of course not."

Marcel sits down on the edge of the blanket, as though he's worried about overstepping boundaries. As he gets himself comfortable he adjusts his tie and pushes his glasses further up his nose, laughing bashfully when he realizes Zayn's been watching him.

"Seems like the picnic is going well," he says casually, turning away from her and looking at the gathering of their fellow employees in and around the food tent.

"Yeah," Zayn agrees, nodding her head. "Last year it rained, so it's good that today's so nice."

"D-Did we plan for rain?" Marcel asks, turning back towards Zayn with another nervous look in his eyes. She resists the urge to laugh as she shifts a little closer to him on the blanket.

"Don't worry, Marcel. Everything's going to be fine."

She reaches out and pats his hand gently, leaving it there for a moment. His eyes drop down to it and his hand twitches a little underneath Zayn's, and she wonders if he's going to pull away. Surprisingly, he doesn't.

"Are you having a nice time?" she asks as she gently rubs her thumb over Marcel's, hoping that the small gesture won't be the thing that makes him pull away.

"Yeah," Marcel replies, clearing his throat as his eyes remain on their overlapping hands. "It's… just…"

"What?"

"I, umm, sort of realized…" Marcel laughs a little and tugs at his collar. "I don't really know anybody in the office."

Zayn frowns. "You know me."

"Well, yes, I-I mean of course I know you," Marcel stutters a little, like he's trying to figure out the right thing to say before he says something completely wrong. "But, it's just--"

"Just what?" Zayn asks, remaining calm and patient as Marcel searches for his words.

"I don't really, like, _know you_ know you."

Zayn bites her tongue, waiting a beat before she opens her mouth. "Would you like to?"

Before Marcel can come up with an answer, Louis reappears with several plates of food and an entire bottle of wine held in the crook of her arm. Marcel quickly pulls hand out from under Zayn's and scrambles to stand up, coming face to face with Louis as soon as he's on his feet.

"You're not leaving already, are you?" she asks as she starts handing things to Zayn, who's watching the two of them very carefully, unsure of how this is all going to go.

"I-I was just…" Marcel stutters again, continuously trying to make eye contact with Louis and staring down at his feet.

"I brought enough for the three of us," Louis goes on, having finished handing over the plates of food to Zayn so that now she can brandish the wine to Marcel. "I was hoping you'd join us."

"You should stay," Zayn adds, looking up at Marcel with a smile when he glances her way. "Weren't you just saying how you wanted to get to know more people in the office?"

"I--"

"You could get to know me," Louis says, and Zayn has to bite her tongue again to keep from laughing. Louis has a knack for making _anything_ sound dirty, though she suspects it wasn't entirely on purpose this time. "Plus, I can tell you a lot about the other people in our office, if you'd like."

"She's a terrible gossip," Zayn says, grinning when Louis gasps in surprise.

"I am _not_," she remarks, turning back to Marcel with a winning smile. "People just like to tell me things, is all. It's not _my_ fault I have a trusting face."

"That's one word for it," Zayn mumbles.

"Anyway," Louis says pointedly, obviously having heard Zayn's remark and choosing to ignore it. "Marcel, would you do us the honor of joining us?" She smiles again and reaches out to gently touch his arm. "We'd love it if you would."

Even Zayn's a little taken aback by Louis' soft approach. Marcel looks down at where her hand is grazing his sleeve and swallows hard before he lets himself look at her again.

"Y-Yes?"

"Excellent!" Louis crows happily, tugging Marcel back down to the picnic blanket as she drops to her knees. "Now I did swipe an opener, but I didn't actually grab any glasses so we'll just have to pass the bottle around."

"Naturally," Zayn says, rolling her eyes as Louis grins at her.

"Should you have--" Marcel gestures weakly back towards the foot tent. "I mean, are we allowed to--"

"It's alright, Marcel." Louis pats his shoulder before she starts turning the corkscrew. "You won't get in trouble, I promise."

"Relax," Zayn tells him. "It's okay."

"If they didn't want us to take the whole bottle then they shouldn't have them in the first place," Louis says decidedly as she yanks the cork out of the bottle and sighs happily. She offers the bottle to Marcel first, who shoots a look at Zayn.

"Go on," she says.

Marcel takes the bottle from Louis and brings it up to his mouth, taking what's possibly the smallest sip ever before he hands it back over. Louis takes a much larger swig before passing it to Zayn, who watches the two of them in lieu of drinking herself.

"Aren't you uncomfortable in that tie?" Louis asks, invading Marcel's personal space once more as she touches his tie, leaning forward enough that Marcel has to avert his eyes while his cheeks go red.

"Uh… a little, but I don't--"

"You're not in the office anymore," Louis goes on, "you don't have to wear it if you don't want to."

"Lou," Zayn says, a soft warning tone to her voice.

She immediately drops the tie and sits back on her heels, reaching for the plate of food closest to her. "I was only trying to help," she murmurs.

"No, it's… it's okay." Marcel reaches up and loosens his tie a bit at first, then finally just pulls it off altogether and even unbuttons the first button on his shirt. "She's right."

Louis preens at that, scooting a little closer to Marcel as he carefully puts his tie down on the blanket next to him. Zayn leans back against the tree trunk as she watches the pair for a few minutes, and surprisingly, she doesn't feel any need to intervene like before.

They engage in perfectly normal conversation while Zayn looks on, and she feels a soft warmth in her chest just from watching them. She hadn't thought it was possible for Louis and Marcel to hold a conversation without Louis turning it inherently sexual and Marcel getting impossibly flustered, but she's relieved to be proven wrong.

Maybe she's wrong about some other things, too. Maybe this whole thing could work after all.

"Zayn?" Louis says, then again in a singsong manner. "_Zayn_!"

"Hmm?" Zayn blinks a few times and laughs sheepishly. "What?"

"You're hogging the wine," Louis says as she makes grabby hands at it. Zayn leans forward to hand it over, smiling as Louis immediately offers it to Marcel first.

*

As the picnic winds down, rumors of an after party of sorts filter through the remaining crowd. Zayn, Louis, and Marcel have kept mostly to themselves all afternoon but when Zayn volunteers to take their plates and the empty wine bottle back to the food tent, she's approached by another member of her department who gives her the details.

She knows Louis will want to go without even having to mention it, but she can't be sure of Marcel's reaction. The afternoon went well in terms of getting to know him a bit better, but there was still a fair amount of blushing and awkward laughter. Zayn counts it as a win that they didn't scare him off entirely.

Predictably, Louis' face lights up when Zayn tells the two of them about the plans to go to a nearby pub, but when they turn to Marcel he's looking down at his phone.

"Marcel?" Louis asks, bringing his attention back to the two of them. "Everything alright?"

"Y-Yeah," he answers, glancing back down at his phone. "Sorry, what were you saying?"

"A few people are going to a pub," Zayn explains, gesturing over her shoulder. "D'you want to come with?"

"I, umm…" Marcel clears his throat and holds up his phone. "I have to go home first, but I'll come later?"

"Don't take too long," Louis says as she reaches over and pats his thigh, "we'll be waiting."

Marcel blushes a deep red and Zayn turns her head so they don't see her roll her eyes while Louis gets to her feet. Marcel dutifully folds the blanket back up and follows the two of them back towards the foot tent, depositing the blanket back with the others before he leaves their company.

"Why d'you think he had to go home first?" Louis muses as she and Zayn make their way out of the park in the opposite direction Marcel had gone.

"Dunno, maybe he's going home to change or something," Zayn replies. Louis loops her arm through Zayn's and leans in close as though she's sharing a secret.

"Maybe he went home to have a wank?"

"Louis!" Zayn chastises, joining in when Louis giggles. "You're terrible."

"I was on my best behavior all day, thank you very much."

"You were, and I'm very proud of you."

Louis' smile slips into a smirk. "Do I get a treat?"

"We'll see," Zayn replies as the pair head down steps leading into the entrance to the Underground. She waits until they're on an escalator going further down before she leans in to whisper in Louis' ear, "I think we'll have some time to kill at the pub, don't you?"

Louis looks up at her with desire in her eyes, making Zayn feel warm all over right down to her toes. The ride on the Tube feels ages longer than it should, especially given the close quarters that rush hour forces them into. Instead of holding onto any of the bars for support, Louis puts her hands on Zayn's waist and presses as close to Zayn as humanly possible. Zayn holds onto the bar over their heads with one hand, the other going around Louis' waist. It takes everything in her to keep her hand from wandering lower down.

As soon as they get to the pub Louis makes a beeline for the toilets, dragging Zayn along with her as quickly as possible so as to avoid any of their work colleagues seeing either of them just yet. The ladies' is small but entirely private, which means as soon as Louis flips the lock on the door Zayn's got her pressed up against the wall and kissing her like she's starved for it.

Louis' hands immediately go into Zayn's hair, grabbing and tugging on it as they kiss. Zayn's hands start at Louis' waist but quickly travel further down to get under the short skirt of her dress. In a flash, Louis' knickers are shoved down to around her thighs and Zayn's teases her fingers between Louis' legs where she's already so wet.

"Fuck," Louis breathes out, knocking her head back against the wall as she breaks away from Zayn's mouth to gasp for air.

"Yeah?" Zayn moans as she presses her face against Louis' neck and slips one finger inside of Louis. "This what you want?"

"Yes," Louis gasps, bearing down on Zayn's hand. "More, please, _god_."

Zayn pushes two more fingers into Louis as she starts sucking on her neck, grinding her hips against Louis' thigh as Louis shakes against her. Louis is still tugging at Zayn's hair but she untangles one hand to use it to find the zip on the back of Zayn's dress, pulling it down just enough so she can get her hands on Zayn's bare breasts underneath.

"Shit," Zayn mutters, pulling back just enough to help Louis pull the top of her dress down to expose her chest. She gasps and moans when Louis ducks her head to put her mouth on her nipple, sucking harder when Zayn pushes her fingers deeper.

They're so desperate in their movements that it soon becomes clear neither is going to accomplish their goal in getting the other off unless they decide who's going to come first. If they had a bed to lie down in then they could take all the time in the world to get each other off at the same time, but seeing as how they're in a toilet at a pub, time is of the essence. And as badly as Zayn wants to get off, she's been aching to get Louis' dress off all fucking day.

"Take your dress off," she orders in a rough voice as she drops to her knees, pulling her fingers out of Louis and dragging them down her thigh. Her own dress is half off already, her top hanging down by her waist so she's half-naked and staring up at Louis. 

Louis doesn't even hesitate before she's pulling her dress up and over her head, hanging it by the straps on the hook on the back of the door, leaving her completely naked save for her knickers which are still down around her thighs. Zayn doesn't even attempt to move them further down before she puts her mouth on Louis, using her fingers to spread her apart so she can get even deeper.

"God, yes, _yes_," Louis moans, her hands going back into Zayn's hair as she moves her hips against Zayn's mouth. She keens when Zayn pushes her fingers back into her as her mouth pays special attention to her clit.

If they were back in Zayn's bed, she'd take her time with it and really make Louis _work_ for her orgasm. But that's not where they are, and Zayn is desperate to hear the sounds Louis makes when she comes. This is just a taste of what she plans on doing to Louis later tonight, and a thrill runs through her when she thinks about the possibility of having another pair of eyes on her.

"C'mon," she murmurs against Louis' skin, tilting her head back so she can look up at her. "Wanna hear you come for me."

"C'mere," Louis begs, pulling Zayn up so she can kiss her properly. Zayn obliges but keeps fucking her fingers back and forth inside Louis, going faster whenever she can to get Louis to keep making the same delicious noises she knows and loves.

"Wanna make you come," Zayn continues, breathing heavily as Louis clings to her. "Wanna get you all pink and pretty and fucking _spent_ before Marcel comes."

Louis stiffens for a moment and moans loudly, but Zayn knows that wasn't enough to get her off. Her hips are still bearing down on Zayn's hand, she still needs more.

"Let him see how gorgeous you are after you've come. Give him a taste of what he could have with us, yeah? Is that what you want?"

"Yeah," Louis moans brokenly. "Want him to see you, too."

"I know, babe." Zayn kisses her hard before she drops back down to her knees and sucks hard on Louis' clit, then massages it with her tongue until Louis can't take any more. She cries out as she clenches hard around Zayn's fingers, panting and gasping out Zayn's name as she comes.

"Jesus fucking fuck," Louis gasps as Zayn slowly pulls her fingers out and gets to her feet, smiling at Louis as she tries to stay on her feet. "You…"

"Me?" Zayn replies sweetly, feigning innocence even as she feels an insistent throb between her legs, her whole body overwhelmed with the need to chase its own orgasm.

Louis pulls Zayn against her and kisses her hard, smacking her hand against Zayn's arse before kneading it with her fingers. Zayn jerks against her, pressing her hands against the wall behind Louis for support.

"Talking about Marcel like that," she whispers filthily in Zayn's ear, biting and sucking on the lobe as she slips her other hand under the skirt of Zayn's dress and into her knickers. "Would you have brought him in here if he'd come with us?"

"Maybe," Zayn admits, even though she definitely wouldn't have. That most certainly would've scared him off. Still, it's not like the thought hadn't crossed her mind, and she wished that it wasn't still such a pipe dream.

"He needs to loosen up," Louis goes on as she starts rubbing her fingers against Zayn's clit, foregoing any further foreplay and instead getting right to work in getting Zayn off. "D'you think watching us fuck would help that?"

Zayn moans helplessly in response. She can't seem to form any words to give Louis a proper reply, though in the end it doesn't matter.

"I bet he'd get off, too. Wouldn't be able to help himself." Louis moans, dragging her mouth along the skin of Zayn's neck. "Maybe he'd join in without us even having to ask."

"Yeah?" Zayn gasps.

"Yeah, babe." Louis kisses Zayn's neck. "Would you like that? Want me to get you all hot and bothered and then have Marcel fuck you?"

Zayn whimpers, burying her face in Louis' neck again as she comes suddenly. Her whole body jerks against Louis and then everything but her hips suddenly goes still, while Louis keeps touching her until Zayn can't take it anymore.

Louis hums softly, dragging her fingers up from Zayn's arse to her chest. She takes one of Zayn's breasts in her hand and massages it softly, teasing the nipple with two of her fingers until Zayn moans weakly.

"Feel better, love?" Louis asks in a slightly teasing manner.

"Need a nap," Zayn answers honestly and they both laugh.

"How about a pint?"

"That'll do."

*

There's a couple of girls waiting for the toilet by the time Zayn and Louis open the door. They're only slightly disheveled but Louis doesn't show even a speck of embarrassment as she takes Zayn's arm in hers and leads her out of the toilet and heads for the bar.

Zayn, on the other hand, ducks her head slightly and refuses to make eye contact with anyone until she has a drink in her hand.

"Why so shy?" Louis teases lightly, tucking Zayn's hair behind her ear as they wait for the bartender to come back with their drinks.

"Shut it," Zayn mumbles.

"You're not regretting our spontaneity, are you?" Louis leans in and kisses Zayn's cheek. "I thought you were having a good time."

"I was-- I _did_." Zayn huffs, laughing slightly as she leans into Louis. "Now I'm just thinking maybe we were too loud."

Louis laughs delightedly, throwing her head back and drawing even more attention. Zayn ducks her head again, groaning into her hands and half-wishing she could hide under the bar.

"I think you know better than anyone that for me, that was _nowhere_ _near_ too loud."

Zayn snickers. "True."

The bartender returns with their drinks and Zayn waits until Louis is taking her first sip before she speaks again.

"Bet Marcel would've heard you if you'd gotten proper loud."

Louis chokes a little, mostly due to laughter, and Zayn grins at her as Louis wipes her mouth with the back of her hand.

"Cheeky," she muses. She winks at Zayn and then pulls her away from the bar, finding some of their coworkers across the pub at a table.

They both manage to find spots to sit that have a clear view of the door so they can spot Marcel as soon as he comes in. Zayn can't be sure how long it's been since the three of them separated after the picnic, but she assumes he'll be along shortly. A thought crosses her mind when they're ordering their second round: they should've traded phone numbers.

"Shit," Louis says when Zayn relays her thought. "Why didn't we do that?"

"Dunno," Zayn replies, "didn't think of it."

"D'you think anyone else would have it?"

"Doubt it. He said he didn't really know anyone else in the office."

Louis deflates, exhaling so sharply that she blows her own hair out of her face. She glances at the door, staring longingly at it as though she's willing Marcel to come through it at that exact moment. He doesn't.

Zayn pats her thigh under the table, giving Louis a smile when she turns to look at her.

"He'll come," she says. Whether she's trying to convince Louis or herself, she doesn't know.

But the minutes turn to hours, the sun goes down, and Marcel doesn't show up. Zayn holds out a tiny hope that he's still coming, but Louis doesn't appear to do the same. There's a big difference between the number of empty glasses in front of Louis and Zayn by the time most of their coworkers have left.

Zayn's the one to call it in the end, mostly because she knows Louis has had far too much to drink and if they stay at the pub any longer she may risk getting cut off by the bartender. It's easy enough to coax her out of the pub and into an Uber, but when the car pulls away from the curb in front of the pub, Louis curls into Zayn's side with a sniffle.

"Why didn't he come?" she asks, her voice thick half from how much she's had to drink and half due to her being on the verge of tears.

"I don't know," Zayn replies, brushing her lips against Louis' hair. "I wish I did, Lou."

"Did I scare him off?" Louis asks, tilting her head back and looking up at Zayn with wide eyes.

"No." Zayn presses a kiss to Louis' forehead, nose, and lips in succession. "You didn't, babe."

"Promise?"

"Promise."

Louis tucks her head into the crook of Zayn's neck and stays close to her for the rest of the drive to Zayn's house. When they arrive, Louis doesn't put up any sort of a fight as Zayn takes her inside and heads straight for her bedroom.

On any other night, Louis would be resisting at least a little. She'd be playful, slinging comments left and right to make Zayn blush. But tonight is different. Tonight Louis is quiet and pliable in a way that Zayn's never seen her be. She lets Zayn dress her in comfy clothes and tuck her into bed, neither moving nor saying a word when Zayn leaves the room for a few minutes to grab them both glasses of water.

"Lou?" Zayn sets both glasses down on her nightstand and climbs into bed next to her, sliding down under the covers until they're face to face. "You okay?"

"Yeah," Louis answers, her voice soft.

"No, you're not." Zayn touches her forehead to Louis' and tangles their fingers together. "What can I do?"

Louis waits a beat. "Hold me?" she asks, her voice even softer than before. Zayn presses in closer, sliding one arm under Louis while the other keeps a tight hold on Louis' hand.

Zayn doesn't say anything more. She closes her eyes and focuses on the sounds of her breathing mixed in with Louis'. There's an uncertainty in her heart that's making this whole situation worse. She doesn't know how to make Louis feel better when she's nursing her own broken heart too.

"I'll be okay," Louis whispers a few minutes later.

With her eyes still closed, Zayn seeks out Louis' mouth with her own and presses a light kiss there. It's comforting for the both of them; the gentle brush of affection that they both need in this moment. Normally a kiss leads to a great deal more, but for the time being just one is enough.

*

Zayn doesn't remember the last time she actually dreaded the thought of going to work. There have been a few projects over the years that have made her want to rip her hair out, but thankfully they're usually few and far between and her department seems to have hit a nice streak of non-terrible projects over the last few months.

Then again, Zayn's reason for not wanting to go to work has nothing to do with the job itself. She doesn't want to go to work because she specifically doesn't want to see Marcel.

Still licking their wounds from Friday, Zayn and Louis stayed in bed practically all weekend while they marathoned episodes of Game of Thrones and ordered takeaway. Normally Zayn doesn't allow Louis to eat in her bed (she has a terrible habit of spilling _everything_) but given the circumstances, she let it slide for the time being.

But now that it's Monday they can't just hide out in Zayn's bedroom any longer, stealing away to Westeros and focusing on the problems there rather than the ones in their real lives. Zayn can't help but wonder whether it would be easier to deal with a problem like Marcel if they all lived in a world like that in Westeros, or if their lives would be infinitely more complicated and intertwined.

At the very least, they don't have to worry about dragons in the real world.

Zayn finds Louis standing outside their office building with a more pronounced pout on her lips than usual for a Monday morning. She doesn't have to ask to know what it's about, and instead of saying anything she just slips her arm around Louis' waist and they walk inside together. Louis lays her head on Zayn's shoulder as they ride up in the lift, neither of them giving a damn about the looks they get from their coworkers this morning.

They remain silent as they make a pit stop in the break room for coffee and tea, and then they wordlessly go their separate ways before they even reach the aisle with Zayn's cubicle at the end. Zayn's heart flutters with nerves as she approaches it on her own, far too used to having Louis by her side on any given day.

She can see the light on in Marcel's cubicle already. If this were any other day she might've stopped to say hello. If last Friday night had never happened, Louis would've already marched over and made Marcel blush.

But today is different. Today, Zayn passes right by Marcel's cubicle without a single word and sits down at her own desk. Her heart is still racing as she boots up her computer and settles in for the work day. She tries not to let her mind wander a few cubicles back, though there's a prickle of curiosity that she can't quite seem to quash. Deep down she's desperate to know what kept Marcel from meeting them at the pub last Friday. When it comes down to it, Zayn is just as stubborn as Louis which means she won't ask.

Marcel is going to have to explain himself of his own volition.

Surprisingly, the first half of the day goes by rather quickly. Zayn gets a good amount of work done for a Monday morning and her mind doesn't stray to Marcel more than once or twice. She does get reminded of just how hurt Louis was by the whole debacle when she gets an email from Louis about five minutes before lunchtime.

_meet you at the lift in 5 x_

It breaks Zayn's heart, if only a little bit. Louis won't even come to Zayn's cubicle because it means passing by Marcel. Zayn wishes there were something she could do to make this all better, but as long as she's feeling the same kind of hurt there's really nothing she can think of that could fix it.

When Zayn returns from lunch, her mind is all over the place. Louis seemed a little better but there was still a dark cloud over the both of them; an apparently everlasting reminder that they were both rejected. Zayn hates it - she _hates_ feeling brokenhearted over a stupid boy and she hates it even more to see Louis so upset. Not once have they ever made each other feel like this; even with the uncertainty over the label of their relationship Zayn has always known that they're on the same page and they care about each other.

With Marcel she doesn't know a fucking thing. But what hurts more is the fact that she _thought_ she did.

About halfway through the afternoon, Zayn hears a gentle knock on the side of her cubicle. She turns around without sparing a thought to who it may be, and she freezes when she sees it's Marcel standing there with a nervous smile.

Zayn stays quiet as he explains a question he has about one of his projects, asking for her advice on how he should proceed because he knows she's been doing this for a lot longer than he has and he values her opinion. It seems a little pandering, given how many compliments about her work he seems to sneak into the conversation, and it doesn't really help with Zayn's current attitude towards him.

She's not exactly being the best coworker in terms of her tone when she answers him. She's short with her advice and her tone is clipped, to say the least. If it were anyone else they'd surely wonder what they did to make her so upset. Marcel, on the other hand, seems to have expected this sort of behavior and takes it as best he can, though he's trembling slightly by the end of their conversation.

Expecting Marcel to leave quickly, Zayn turns back to her computer. She closes her eyes and tries to take a deep breath to calm herself down, but it's interrupted when Marcel speaks again.

"I'm sorry, by the way." Zayn turns back around and Marcel visibly winces. "About last Friday, I mean."

Zayn doesn't say anything. She stares him down as her brain processes what he'd just said to her; she's honestly surprised that he brought it up at all. She thought for sure that they'd just never speak of it again and simply go back to being co-workers and nothing else.

"Will you tell Louis I'm sorry, too?" he asks earnestly. "I swear, I was going to meet you guys but then when I got home I couldn't find Dusty and then when I _did_ she looked terrible and so--"

"Dusty?" Zayn blurts out, in spite of herself.

"My cat," Marcel explains, tucking his notepad under his arm as he quickly pulls his phone out of his pocket and opens up his photos. He takes a tentative step towards Zayn as he turns the screen around so she can see it, swiping through photos of said cat.

He keeps going until he comes to one of the cat curled up on his naked chest, clearly taken while he was laying in bed, and he squawks as he hurriedly turns his screen away from Zayn. It's far too late, of course. Now that she's seen it the image is burned in her mind and she suddenly has a hundred questions.

Marcel goes on to explain that he had to take Dusty to the emergency vet, but Zayn only half listens at best. When she looks at Marcel all she can think of is how he looks without a shirt, even though she _knows_ she shouldn't be objectifying him like that. But he has _abs_ and _tattoos_ and Zayn simply doesn't understand how he's managed to hide all of that under starchy shirts and terrible ties this whole time.

"So, I just…" Marcel clears his throat and Zayn snaps out of her daze. "I just wanted to say I'm sorry. I did want to come to the pub, I just… couldn't."

"It's okay," Zayn answers. Marcel blinks a few times as though he can't believe that Zayn's accepting his apology so quickly.

"A-And you'll tell Louis, too?"

"Yeah," Zayn says as her eyes once again wander from Marcel's face down to his shirt and back up again. "Don't worry," she says, "I'll tell her."

"Okay," Marcel says, sounding relieved. "I'll, umm… go now. Thanks for… y'know." He gestures with his notebook as his cheeks turn red and he quickly walks away from Zayn's cubicle.

Zayn sits there for a moment as she comes to terms with what just happened. Marcel _wanted_ to come. She should've known that, he didn't look nearly as spooked at the picnic as he usually did; they should've known that something had come up that prevented him from going to the pub.

Feeling foolish and a little bit reckless, Zayn gets up from her chair and for once _she_ goes to find Louis at her own desk. Judging by the look on Louis' face when she sees her, Zayn thinks maybe she's a little more wild-eyed than usual.

"Zayn?" Louis asks as she gives her a strange look. "What's going on?"

"You'll never guess what just happened."

*

By Wednesday, Louis and Zayn have a new plan. It takes two full days to decide on a course of action because they have several disagreements over what they should do. Louis, predictably, is still licking her wounds from Marcel's accidental rejection and isn't entirely sold on his apology. As a result, some of her ideas aren't exactly what Zayn calls _helpful_.

They finally settle on inviting Marcel to Zayn's house that weekend. Louis reasons that it should be Zayn's house because one, it's far cleaner than hers ever is and two, there's a pool _and_ a hot tub. Sometimes Zayn thinks if she asked Louis to move in with her Louis would say yes in a heartbeat just for those perks.

(And, obviously, because she'd be living with Zayn. But the pool and hot tub are excellent bonuses.)

The problem is that Zayn loses her nerve the moment Louis leaves her side. She walks right past Marcel's cubicle on Wednesday morning, cursing under her breath as soon as she sits down at her desk. This was supposed to be the easy part: just extend the invitation and hope for the best. Zayn doesn't know what's holding her back and making this so difficult.

The Wednesday workday ends before Zayn can muster up her courage to ask Marcel. She regretfully admits it to Louis before they part ways for the evening, much to both her and Louis' dismay.

"But you'll do it tomorrow, right?" Louis says, her voice rising above the din around them as they hover outside the doorway to the tube station outside their workplace.

"Yes," Zayn replies even though deep down she knows in her heart she can't promise it.

"You swear?"

"_Yes_!" Zayn lets herself get swept up in the bustle of people heading down into the station but she can still hear Louis' voice over everything else.

"You'd better!"

Thursday morning comes and goes without Zayn managing to find the time to speak to Marcel. In her defense, a new account takes up the majority of her time and attention, leaving absolutely no room for any sort of non-work conversation. Louis doesn't approve of this at all, which leads to a rather heated conversation over lunch.

"You could always do it, y'know," Zayn grumbles.

"Invite him to _your_ house?" Louis scoffs. "I think I've scared him off enough as it is, thank you."

"Maybe it's a bad idea. Maybe we should just forget the whole thing."

"This was your idea!"

"I know! I'm just saying…"

Zayn hesitates. She's not really sure what she's saying, she just wishes there was an easier way to do all of this.

"What?" Louis demands. "What are you saying, Zayn?"

"I don't know," Zayn eventually replies. "I'll figure it out, okay?"

"Okay," Louis replies. Her edges don't seem as sharp when Zayn looks up at her again; she can see the vulnerability in her eyes. Zayn feels it too, they're both putting themselves on the line here and it could very well blow up in their faces.

Zayn wishes she could go back and pinpoint the moment where they both got in too deep with all of this. She can't help but wonder what they'd be talking about at this very moment if they'd never met Marcel, but thinking about that for even a few seconds brings her mood down even more.

It's not that she wishes she didn't know Marcel, she just wishes she understood her own feelings a little better.

Unfortunately, Thursday passes with the deed still undone.

But on Friday morning Zayn walks into the building with a look of determination so fierce that even Louis is a little afraid of her. She marches right up to Marcel's cubicle, trying her absolute best to hold onto the gumption she woke up with.

"Hey," she says, her voice coming out a little sharper than she meant it to.

Marcel spins around in his chair and narrowly misses spilling coffee all over himself. Zayn bites her lip to keep from laughing at the look of terror on his face that switches to relief when he sees who it is.

"Oh, hi!" Marcel smoothes his tie and hurries to put his coffee cup down. "Good morning, Zayn. Do you need me for something?"

"Yes," Zayn answers immediately, but then she starts to backtrack. "No. Wait, yes."

Marcel's smile falters a little but he does a good job of keeping a straight face as Zayn curses under her breath.

"I just…" Zayn grits her teeth and rolls her shoulders back, finding her nerve once again. "I wanted to invite you to a thing. A party."

"A party?"

Zayn nods. "At my house. Tomorrow."

"Tomorrow?"

"Yeah," Zayn's voice falters a little, "are you free?"

"Well, I mean…" Marcel splutters a little as he tugs at his tie. "What sort of party is it? Who will be there? Should I bring something?"

A gentle smile spreads across Zayn's face, growing larger with every question Marcel asks. Her answers start spilling out of her mouth before she realizes what she's saying, which leads to a few white lies.

"It'll be a pool party for a few of us from the office. I thought, what with the new clients we've had this week, we all could use some time to unwind."

"O-Oh." Marcel nods his head but Zayn can see he's wrestling with the idea, possibly on the verge of saying no.

"You said you liked to bake, yeah?" she says, turning on the charm a little more than before. "Maybe you could bring something sweet." Using what might as well be a patented Louis Tomlinson move, Zayn laughs softly and ducks her head before looking at Marcel through her eyelashes. "Other than yourself, of course."

Marcel immediately goes red.

"Yes!" he blurts suddenly, a little too loud for nine in the morning. He and Zayn both glance around, Zayn a little more amused than Marcel. He clears his throat and gives her a shy smile when their eyes meet again. "Yes. I'd be happy to."

"Lovely. I'll send you an email with the details, alright?"

Marcel nods enthusiastically and Zayn laughs a little, bidding him farewell for the time being as she makes her way to her desk. She breathes a huge sigh of relief as she sinks down into her chair and taps the space bar on her keyboard to bring her computer to life.

Before she does anything work-related, she opens up a new email and addresses it to Louis.

_he's in._

While she's typing up an email to Marcel, Louis' reply comes through and it's just a long line of exclamation points. Zayn chuckles as she deletes it, a permanent smile on her face as she sends off the email to Marcel and starts her work day.


	4. The Party

Zayn wakes up remarkably early the following morning, considering it's a Saturday and she normally sleeps in til it's already the afternoon. Louis is already awake when Zayn stirs, which isn't unusual apart from the fact that it's barely half past eight in the morning.

"Why're you awake?" Zayn mumbles as she reaches out and curls her arm around Louis' waist. Louis laughs as she settles back down into bed beside her and puts their noses together.

"I could ask you the same question," she replies, pressing a kiss to the tip of Zayn's nose.

"You're excited, aren't you?" Zayn asks as her eyes fall closed again. There's a decent chance she could fall back asleep, but she's already feeling an excited thrum in her veins that probably won't allow any more sleep.

"Maybe a little," Louis replies, shuffling more under the covers on Zayn's bed. "Aren't you?"

"Yeah," Zayn replies through a yawn.

"Think he'll actually show up this time?" Louis asks softly. Zayn opens her eyes and sees the nervous look on Louis' face.

"I'm sure he will," Zayn tells her. She pulls Louis closer, tucking her head in the crook of Louis' neck and pressing her mouth against her warm skin. Louis moans softly and chuckles.

"Stop that, now." She gently pushes Zayn away and pulls the covers up over her chest as though she's protecting what little modesty she has left. "Plenty of time for that later."

"Tease," Zayn mutters as she rolls onto her back and stretches her arms above her head.

Zayn's house isn't necessarily dirty or overly messy, not like Louis' flat by any means, but there's a fair amount of tidying to be done before Marcel is due to show up. They'd gone to the shops after work yesterday evening and picked up a few party type foods for today, having both decided that even if they were lying about the guest list they should at least make it look like they'd been expecting more than just one person.

Louis chooses to put on her bikini rather than any sort of normal clothes while they tidy up the house, which distracts Zayn far more than she'd care to admit. Every time Louis flounces by she finds herself staring after her for a good thirty seconds, and most of the time Louis catches her.

"You're bloody distracting," Zayn says after Louis calls her out on staring for the fifth time.

"Not my fault you can't keep your thoughts to yourself," she replies with a smirk.

"Yeah, well." Zayn purposefully stares at the floor as she leaves the room, ignoring the sound of Louis' laughter while her cheeks burn red.

She changes into a bikini of her own a few hours later, but unlike Louis she pulls on an oversized t-shirt to cover herself up. She grabs one for Louis as well, practically forcing it over her head despite Louis' numerous protests.

"You'll give Marcel a heart attack if you answer the door like that," she says as Louis brushes her hair out of her face.

"Alright, alright." She tugs the shirt down over herself and does a spin. "Better now?"

"No," Zayn says quietly as she pulls Louis in by her waist. "But also yes."

"Now who's a tease," Louis murmurs as she loops her arms around Zayn's neck and leans in for a kiss.

As the minutes tick by and the hour of Marcel's arrival approaches, both Zayn and Louis find themselves starting to feel a little manic. They've finished their tidying and all of the food is prepped and laid out for consumption; the pool has been skimmed and the hot tub is warmed up and ready to go.

Louis keeps hovering by the window near the front door, glancing out of it every ten seconds or so while trying to make it look like she's not doing just that. Zayn's sitting on the couch with a book open on her lap, but she's read the same page about six times in the last few minutes and can't seem to get her brain to focus enough to actually comprehend what's on the page.

"He's here!" Louis hisses suddenly, surprising Zayn so much that the book actually tumbles off of her lap and onto the floor. "He's here! He's here!"

"Alright!" Zayn hisses back. "Go answer the door!"

"Right. I…" Louis hesitates. "I can't. You do it."

"Louis," Zayn says in a rather long-suffering tone.

"Just do it," Louis says pleadingly just as the doorbell rings. "Zayn!"

"Alright, alright," Zayn says as she picks her book up off the floor and sets it down on the table before heading towards the door. "What'll you do?" she asks as she passes by Louis.

"Never you mind," Louis replies as she crosses behind Zayn, missing Zayn's eye roll entirely.

Zayn takes a deep breath as she puts her hand on the doorknob, letting it out slowly before she pulls the door back and finds Marcel standing on her doorstep with a bag slung over his shoulder and a tray of biscuits in his hands.

"Hi," he says, clearing his throat nervously as Zayn looks him over. He's wearing what must be his version of casual wear - a short-sleeved button down with a minimalist pattern plus khaki shorts and slip-on sandals. His hair is still gelled like it always is, but Zayn has a feeling that won't last once they're in the water.

"Hi," Zayn replies, smiling warmly at him as she accepts the tray of biscuits and steps aside to let him in. "C'mon in, did you find the place okay?"

"Yeah," Marcel says as he follows her towards the kitchen, which is where they find Louis.

Zayn's half surprised and half relieved to find that she's still got the oversized shirt on, but in the end it doesn't really matter what she's wearing because Marcel goes red immediately anyway.

"I'm so happy you're here!" Louis says, bounding over and throwing her arms around Marcel in a hug. Zayn laughs to herself as she sets the tray of biscuits down amongst the rest of the party food. "You ready for a dip?"

"Y-Yes?" Marcel clears his throat again as Louis takes a step back and he laughs awkwardly. "Am I… the first one… h-here?"

Zayn and Louis share a look, silently agreeing that it's time to come clean.

"You're, umm, actually the only one coming," Zayn says hesitantly.

"Oh," Marcel says, swallowing hard and looking increasingly uncomfortable.

"Is that okay?" Zayn asks, starting to feel a bit nervous herself. "Everyone else already had plans, since it was so last minute, but we thought--"

"N-No, it's okay," Marcel stutters. It's about as unconvincing as he could possibly be and Zayn feels absolutely wretched.

"It'll still be fun, just the three of us," Louis declares as she puts her arm around Marcel's shoulder. "Look at all this amazing food we've got, and your biscuits!" She reaches out and plucks one off the tray, shoving it into her mouth just to prove her point.

Zayn snorts with laughter as Louis smiles through her full mouth, crumbs all over her face. Marcel cracks a smile too and the tension in the room dissipates with ease.

"It'll be just like the picnic, only better because now we can go swimming," Louis goes on. "Why don't you put your suit on and come outside, yeah?"

"Yeah, okay," Marcel answers, his voice still a little shaky but far more confident than last time.

"The loo is down the hall and to the right," Zayn says, gesturing with her arm. Marcel smiles at her, quietly excusing himself from their company and clutching his bag tightly as he heads down the hallway.

"That was close," Louis whispers as soon as the door to the loo shuts behind Marcel.

"D'you think this was a bad idea?" Zayn asks as the two of them make their way outside.

"No," Louis says firmly as she shakes her head. "No, I think it'll be good for him, y'know? And good for us."

Zayn rolls her eyes. "You're just saying that because you want to get in his pants."

"And you don't?" Louis replies as she sits down by the edge of the pool and dips her legs in. Zayn follows suit and sighs heavily.

"I mean, well… _yeah_, but…"

"We're not gonna make him do anything he doesn't want to do," Louis tells her. "If he doesn't want us, then that's that."

"What if we scare him off?" Zayn says, glancing over her shoulder at the door behind them. "Maybe this _was_ a bad idea."

"It's going to be fine," Louis says as she takes one of Zayn's hands in her own and squeezes it. "Promise. He wouldn't be here if he didn't want to be."

Zayn chuckles softly. "And here I thought I'd have to remind you of that."

Louis ducks her head as she smiles. Zayn squeezes her hand gently and lets out a deep breath. Her nerves are slowly turning back into excitement, and the waiting is just making it worse.

*

Marcel finally emerges from the house a few minutes later wearing swimming trunks and a shirt. Zayn and Louis share a look between themselves before Louis gets up and makes her way over to him with a smile on her face.

"Ready?" she asks. Without waiting for him to reply, Louis pulls her own shirt over her head to reveal her bikini underneath. If Marcel was going to say anything, the words immediately die in his throat the second he sees Louis in a bikini.

She takes his silence as agreement and carefully takes his arm, leading him over towards the pool. As they walk over Zayn takes off her own shirt, looking coyly over her shoulder at the two of them as she drops it on the ground next to her.

"Aren't you worried about your glasses?" Louis asks as they reach the edge of the pool. Marcel laughs nervously, pushing them further up his nose as he glances back and forth between Louis and Zayn.

"I, umm, I have contacts, but… I wasn't really planning on… submerging," he says, clearing his throat, "so I, uhh, think the glasses will… y'know, be okay."

Zayn and Louis lock eyes again but this time it's Zayn who comes up with a plan. She pulls her legs out of the water and stands up, turning around to face them before taking Marcel's other arm.

"Why don't we start in the hot tub, first?" she says as she starts to gently pull Marcel and Louis in that direction. "You might change your mind about your glasses."

Marcel laughs nervously but follows Zayn's lead. He climbs into the hot tub first, wincing a bit at the heat and awkwardly adjusting his shirt when it balloons from the water. Louis winks at Zayn before she slips into the hot tub on Marcel's right side, Zayn taking the right.

The hot tub isn't very large, but it doesn't particularly matter in this case. Even if it was, Zayn suspects that both she and Louis would still be sitting very close to Marcel. It takes no time at all for Marcel to become flustered, his cheeks a bright pink as his glasses start to steam up.

Louis begins with a perfectly normal conversation, asking Marcel simple questions in an effort to calm him down a little. Zayn adds in her own two cents when necessary, feeling relaxed enough to think this is all going very well so far.

A few minutes later Marcel gives a little shout of surprise and Louis brings her hand up out of the water, covering her mouth as she laughs a little out of embarrassment.

"Sorry!" she giggles, "my hand slipped!"

"It's okay," Marcel assures her while Zayn just rolls her eyes.

_Your hand slipped, my arse_, she thinks to herself as she carefully places her arm behind Marcel and presses her free hand to his cheek. He's startled a little at the sudden contact, but it's a gesture of concern more than anything else - he is _really_ flushed.

"You feeling alright?" Zayn asks. "You're awfully hot."

Marcel twitches a little, clearing his throat as he shifts under the water. "Yeah, I'm… I'm okay."

"Perhaps you should've put your contacts in," Louis says, leaning in from his other side. "Your glasses are getting a little foggy."

"Yeah, umm…" Marcel clears his throat, "maybe I should."

He hesitates for a moment before he starts to get up, turning fully around so he's facing the edge of the hot tub. He keeps his back to the girls until he's got a towel wrapped around his waist, turning back only to awkwardly mime that he'll be right back before he's rushing off back into the house.

As soon as he's gone, Zayn slides across to meet Louis and flicks her ear.

"Oww," Louis whines. "What was that for?"

"_That_ was for your hand slipping."

"It did slip!" Louis protests.

"I don't believe you," Zayn replies haughtily. Louis narrows her eyes as she presses in close to Zayn, their faces a mere inch away from each other when she speaks again.

"You, of all people, should know that when I touch you, I _mean_ it."

As Louis speaks, Zayn feels her hand slide up her thigh underwater. She doesn't stop until she's reached the edge of Zayn's bikini bottoms and even then, it's for barely a second before Louis is slipping her hand under the flimsy fabric.

"Lou," Zayn gasps softly as Louis leans over and starts kissing her neck while her fingers rub at Zayn's clit, careful and calculated movements that make Zayn feel immediately dizzy.

Louis smirks as she turns around, pressing her body to the edge of the hot tub as she faces the house while keeping her hand firmly down Zayn's pants. Zayn bites her lip in an effort to keep from moaning too loudly, but she's been slightly turned on all day and Louis' fingers certainly aren't doing much more than teasing her.

It doesn't take long for Marcel to come back, this time without his glasses on. He carries the towel he'd taken before under his arm, his trunks and shirt having dried slightly in the time it took for him to put his contacts in.

"M-Maybe we should get in the pool?" he suggests.

"I think that sounds like a _wonderful_ idea," Louis says brightly as she carefully removes her hand from Zayn's bikini bottoms and climbs out of the hot tub. "You coming, Zayn?"

Zayn, to her credit, doesn't say a word. She collects herself as quickly as possible and turns her head to smile at Marcel, who's surely noticed the flush in her cheeks that definitely wasn't there when he left.

Marcel's shirt clings to his chest as he gets into the pool up to his waist, the water seeping up through the fabric quickly and far more noticeable than when they were in the hot tub. Louis follows suit, shrieking a little at the cool temperature of the water compared to the heat of the hot tub. Zayn, on the other hand, feels immensely better in the cold water after the trials Louis put her though only minutes ago.

"I'm bloody freezing," Louis says as she wraps her arms around herself, conveniently pushing her breasts together and drawing more attention to them than before. Zayn notices it immediately and so does Marcel, if the way he clears his throat and averts his eyes is any indication.

"You ought to go further in," Zayn says as she makes her way towards Louis. "Get more adjusted, like."

"I'm perfectly fine right here, thank you very much," Louis replies.

"Seriously, Lou." Zayn smiles wickedly, giving Louis exactly five seconds before she splashes a bit of water her way.

"Oh, _fuck_ you!" Louis shrieks as Zayn starts splashing her more, so much that Louis tries her hardest to get away and ends up hiding behind Marcel.

Zayn frowns as she slowly swims towards the pair of them, making soft, disapproving noises with her tongue as Louis clings to Marcel's back.

"Now that's just not fair," Zayn says as Marcel cautiously puts up his hands.

"You'll protect me, won't you, Marcel?" Louis says.

"I…" Marcel blinks rapidly as Zayn comes a little closer to them.

"You don't mind being between us, do you?" Louis asks, her voice a little lower and a lot more sultry than before. She's slipped one of her arms over his shoulder and is leaning over his other one to look up at him.

"No…" he answers with a rushed breath and Louis giggles in response.

"Good," she whispers as she brushes her lips against his cheek, "because we certainly like having you."

This, apparently, was the last straw for Marcel. He pulls himself out of Louis' clutches and puts a fair amount of distance between himself and both girls, stuttering out apologies mixed with soft rejections.

"I can't do this, I can't… I can't come between you," he says, breathing so hard that it's entirely possible he could faint on the spot. "You're just… you're together!"

"Marcel," Zayn says carefully, fearing that they've broken him.

"You're together!" he repeats. "And you're obviously perfect together and I'd only mess things up and I don't want to do that so please just… just stop."

"Okay," Zayn says softly as she glances over at Louis, who looks just as bewildered by Marcel's outburst as she feels. "It's okay, Marcel. You don't have to do anything you don't want to do."

"It's not…" Marcel sighs heavily. "It's not that I don't want to. I do, god… how could I not? Look at you!" He gestures wildly between them and drops his hands into the water. "But… look at me. I can't compete with either of you, so why should I even try? You two are just… so perfect together."

"But we're not… together," Louis says. She looks over at Zayn who looks away for a moment, trying not to show just how much that statement hurts her. "I mean, not officially? Like, I dunno, we've never really discussed it."

"But you…" Marcel sputters a bit, "but you're… y'know. Together."

"Well, yeah," Louis says as she carefully takes a step forward, half towards Marcel and half towards Zayn. "I mean, I… I love Zayn. I think she's beautiful and funny and charming and…" Louis stumbles over her words when Zayn looks at her, but a smile brightens up her face a second later and she continues on, "... honestly, I don't know what I'd do without her."

Zayn feels warm all the way down to her toes. She feels exactly the same about Louis only she's never said it out loud, or even admitted it to herself. And hearing it come out of Louis' mouth just suddenly makes the world a little brighter.

"You see?" Marcel says, breaking through the haze that Zayn got lost in for a moment. "I… I can't come between you two. I'd only ruin it."

Zayn blinks, tearing her eyes away from Louis and looking straight at Marcel with a frown.

"What're you talking about?" she says. "We wouldn't be doing all of this if we didn't want you here, Marcel."

"What?"

"We like you, isn't it obvious?" Zayn laughs a little. "We're just… absolute _shit_ at expressing how we feel and apparently we've gone and mucked it all up with you, but… could we have another go?"

"Please," Louis chimes in, "I swear, we're not taking the piss or anything. We really like you, Marcel."

"But… I don't…" Marcel shakes his head slightly and sighs. "This sort of thing doesn't happen to me, y'know? Beautiful girls don't talk to me. They don't even _look_ at me."

"They should," Louis says matter-of-factly. She and Zayn both carefully approach Marcel, not too quickly for fear he'll freak out again. He stays in place and lets them come towards him, but he still frowns like he doesn't feel like he belongs there at all.

"Absolutely," Zayn agrees. "You're wonderful, Marcel. We just want to get to know you better."

"In more ways than one," Louis says, shrinking a little when Zayn gives her a look. "What? I'm just being honest."

Marcel laughs softly and brushes a bit of hair back away from his face. Between the heat from the hot tub, the pool water, and the humidity in the air around them, the gel in his hair is starting to fail and his natural curl is coming out.

"You're sure?" he asks. "Absolutely sure?"

"Absolutely," Zayn says. They're back on either side of him now and he's looking back and forth between them like he still can't believe this is happening.

"Honest," Louis says. She steps in close and places her hand on Marcel's cheek, gently turning his face towards hers. She pauses for a moment, waiting to see if he's going to pull away, but he doesn't.

Louis leans in further and gently touches her lips to Marcel's in the lightest of kisses, giving him full control to stop her if he doesn't want this. He sighs against her mouth and she takes that as a go-ahead to kiss him a little more, pressing her lips to his a bit firmer this time around. He lets out a breathy moan when Louis opens her mouth and slips her tongue between his lips, and suddenly they're kissing like they need it to survive.

Zayn waits patiently on Marcel's other side, watching the two of them kiss and feeling a heat grow low in her belly. She comes a little closer, putting her hands on Marcel's shoulder as she presses her body against his side and as soon as Marcel pulls away from Louis' mouth, Zayn pounces.

Now that Louis has broken the ice, Zayn goes straight in for a deep kiss. Marcel moans again and curls his arm around Zayn's waist, pulling her close to him as her hands twist in his hair. Out of the corner of Zayn's eye she can see Louis kissing Marcel's neck, no doubt biting and sucking to leave her marks all over his skin.

Marcel's panting heavily by the time Zayn pulls away, giving Louis another turn of kissing his mouth. They swap back and forth for a while until they're all breathless and a little wobbly on their feet, standing in the shallow end of the pool. Marcel shivers a bit as he looks back and forth between them, licking his swollen lips and clutching both of them tightly.

"Should we go back to the hot tub?" Zayn suggests.

"Yes," Marcel answers at once, making Louis giggle into his shoulder.

"That sounds like an excellent plan," Louis says, taking both Zayn and Marcel's hands in her own and leading the way out of the pool and back to the hot tub.

This time instead of sitting on either side of Marcel, Louis and Zayn both sit in his lap and resume the same position they had before in the pool. They continue swapping turns for kissing, sometimes kissing each other while Marcel watches on with wide eyes.

Louis, predictably, is the first to push the limits a little further. While Marcel and Zayn are busy kissing each other, Louis slides her hand down Marcel's chest (which, regrettably is still covered by the damned shirt) and presses it firmly against the bulge between his legs.

Marcel immediately gasps, breaking away from Zayn for a moment and squeezing his eyes shut. Zayn coaxes him back to her mouth, laughing softly while Louis sits utterly frozen in place. What she found there was a lot _more_ than she'd ever expected.

"I think we should go inside," she says loudly a few seconds later. Zayn and Marcel stop kissing and give her matching puzzled looks.

"I...Is everything okay?" Marcel asks, giving her a fearful look as though he's certain he's done something wrong.

"Yes," Louis answers immediately, giving Zayn a pointed look. "I just think it's … y'know, time for us to _go inside_."

"Okay," Zayn says, continuing to give Louis a weird look.

"C'mon," Louis says a little forcefully, tugging both of them up and out of the hot tub and corralling them inside as quickly as she can.

*

"Louis, what's gotten into you?" Zayn tries to ask as Louis continues to drag her and Marcel through the house. All three of them are soaking wet and dripping water all over the floor, something which Marcel is extremely embarrassed by.

"I'll just get a towel--" He tries to pull away from Louis for a moment to do just that but she refuses to let him go. She keeps a tight grip on his wrist and all but drags him off to Zayn's bedroom.

On the one hand, Zayn is completely on board with moving their little party from outside to the bedroom, but on the other she's not entirely certain that Marcel's ready for this sort of thing just yet. Still, she follows the two of them into her room and closes the door behind them out of habit.

"What's going--" Marcel starts to ask, but he's cut off halfway through when Louis starts trying to pull his shirt over his head and he yelps.

"Lou," Zayn chastises softly as she comes to stand at Marcel's side, wondering just what the hell has gotten into Louis' head that's made her jump to all of this.

"Would you rather I lose my top first?" Louis asks, brazen as ever. She doesn't even wait for Marcel to reply before reaching behind her and undoing the top of her bikini. It falls to the ground and both Marcel and Zayn stare at her with equally wide eyes.

Zayn, of course, has seen Louis' tits a hundred times over but somehow she never gets over the initial shock. She recovers after a few seconds and out of the corner of her eye she sees that Marcel is positively slack-jawed and still openly staring.

"That's better, innit?" Louis says, her voice dropping into a sultry tone as she moves forward again to try a second time in taking off Marcel's shirt.

He lets her, this time, possibly because he's still stunned from the scene unfolding in front of him. His shirt falls to the floor with a wet sound and Zayn turns to face him now, fairly surprised at what she sees when she looks at him.

Marcel's got _abs_, for fuck's sake.

"What've you been hiding, Marcel?" she teases lightly as she too steps forward, reaching out with one hand to trail her fingers over Marcel's chest.

"Your turn," Louis says as she turns her head towards Zayn with a smirk. "And then it's the _big_ reveal," she stage-whispers.

"W-What?" Marcel stutters, looking back and forth between them a few times before he stops on Zayn as she takes off her bikini top as well.

He stares at her in the same manner he'd just been staring at Louis and it makes Zayn feel a little bashful. She and Louis have spent hours touching each other, running their hands over every inch of each other's skin, but there's something in the way Marcel is looking at her that makes her feel a little nervous about all of this. She'd forgotten what the thrill of a new lover could feel like.

"D'you want do to the honors?" Louis asks, bringing Marcel's attention back to her.

"The… what?"

She smiles as she takes his hand and carefully places it at her waist, moving it down until it reaches the hem of her bikini bottoms. She tucks Marcel's fingers underneath them to make her point and when it clicks in his head, he gets flustered.

"Oh, I… I don't… I've never…" Marcel pulls his hand back sheepishly and runs it through his hair, looking very apologetic in spite of his obvious nerves.

"It's alright," Zayn says as she leans in and presses a kiss to his cheek. "You just watch."

She and Louis turn to face one another, smiling as they both lean in for a kiss at the same time. They both hear Marcel groan when their mouths meet, and Zayn rests her hands on Louis' hips for a few seconds as they kiss. Eventually she starts pulling on the flimsy fabric of Louis' bikini bottoms and breaks the kiss as she makes her way down Louis' body, pressing open-mouthed kisses as she goes.

As soon as Zayn stands upright again Louis goes in for another kiss, doing exactly what Zayn just did to her so that within another minute they're both standing before Marcel completely naked.

They both turn to look at him at the same time and he gulps loudly, rubbing his eyes and running his hands through his hair as he lets out a slightly hysterical laugh.

"I'm not dreaming, am I? This… this is actually happening?"

"You're not dreaming," Louis assures him as she steps forward while Zayn carefully makes her way around the two of them, coming to rest behind Marcel's back. She steps in close enough that her breasts brush against Marcel and make him shudder as she wraps her arms around his shoulders, leaning in to kiss the soft skin of his neck.

"Is this okay?" she asks quietly as Louis reaches out for the drawstring of Marcel's swim trunks. Marcel's staring down at Louis' hands and breathing so hard that his chest heaves with every inhale. Zayn presses a calm kiss to his cheek and it seems to help center him.

"Y-Yeah," he says, finally answering Zayn's question and giving Louis the go-ahead she was waiting for.

She pulls his swim trunks down in the same manner in which she'd pulled down Zayn's bikini, ending up on her knees in front of the both of them. Only this time, she makes no effort to get back up to her feet.

"Oh my god," Zayn whispers softly when she peeks over Marcel's shoulder and finally sees what Louis was talking about. She understands in an instant why Louis was so hellbent on getting them out of the hot tub and into a room with a bed.

"Wh-What?" Marcel asks. "Is s-something wrong?"

"You're just a man of mystery, aren't you?" Zayn says, her voice coming out in a sort of purr as she turns Marcel's face towards hers and kisses him.

"What d'you--" Marcel tries to speak against her mouth but he cuts his own words off with a full body shiver when Louis puts her hands on his thighs.

"Can I?" she asks, her mouth so close to him that he can feel her breath. Marcel starts panting again and in the moment, all he can do is nod his head.

He moans loudly the moment Louis brings her mouth to the head of his dick, letting herself have just a taste of it at first before she takes as much of him as she can handle into her mouth at once. Marcel tries to keep his eyes on her at first but the feeling of her mouth around him coupled with the view of her on her knees is just too much. He shuts his eyes and tips his head back onto Zayn's shoulder, moaning helplessly as Louis starts to bob her head.

"She's good with her mouth, isn't she?" Zayn whispers, her lips dragging against Marcel's ear. He moans in the affirmative and turns his head, seeking out Zayn's mouth with his own. He's too overwhelmed to keep kissing her for very long, but Zayn doesn't mind.

She runs her hands up and down Marcel's chest, gently teasing his nipples as Louis continues to suck his cock. Marcel's practically shaking in her arms as she continues whispering dirty things in his ear, making herself even more turned on with every passing second.

"You can use your hands, if you like," she tells him. "Louis likes that."

Marcel grunts softly as he tentatively puts one hand on Louis' head, barely touching her at all and certainly not pulling on her hair. Louis brings one of her hands off of his thigh and covers Marcel's with it, coaxing him to use a little more pressure. She moans around his dick when he tries giving her hair the lightest of tugs, urging him to do more as she sucks him harder.

"Oh my god," he moans brokenly.

"We talked about this," Zayn says, dragging a hand down Marcel's arm until she reaches his free hand. He intertwines their fingers and holds onto her hand tightly, hiding his face against her cheek as she keeps talking. "About what you'd do to the both of us if we had you like this."

"Zayn," he whimpers.

"I know," she whispers. "Feels good, doesn't it?"

"Close," he whines. "L-Louis… she--"

"I know," Zayn repeats, feeling a little dizzy and desperate herself. "Show us how much you like Louis' mouth, yeah?"

"Yeah," Marcel moans.

"C'mon," Zayn urges. "C'mon, you can do it. Come for us, and we'll--"

Marcel cuts her off with a loud moan as he suddenly comes, panting harshly and shaking in Zayn's arms. Louis pulls off a few seconds later and swallows, breathing deeply as she looks up at the two of them.

"I'm sorry," Marcel babbles as Louis gets to her feet, "I didn't mean to… it happened so fast…"

"Such a gentleman," Louis teases lightly before she presses herself to Marcel's front and kisses him deeply. She switches to Zayn a few seconds later, sharing Marcel's taste between the three of them. "What now?" she asks upon pulling back, leaving the others in a bit of a daze.

"Bed," Zayn replies matter-of-factly. "Now."

"I like the way you think," Louis replies with a wolfish smile as she takes the first steps towards the bed, letting Zayn lead Marcel over.

"I can't believe this is happening," Marcel says once he's flat on his back with Louis and Zayn on either side of him.

"Is that a good thing?" Louis teases gently as she rolls onto her side, pressing up against Marcel as she looks at both him and Zayn.

"Yes," Marcel answers immediately, "I mean… I just can't believe… that you…" He gestures between them and laughs, "that we… that _this…_"

"Think we might've broken him a little," Zayn says as she kisses Marcel's cheek.

"Might've done," Louis agrees, turning her attention solely to Zayn in a way that makes a shiver go down Zayn's spine. "Marcel?" she says in a sickly-sweet tone of voice.

"Yes?"

"I think it's time we thank our lovely hostess for all that she's done for us today."

"Lou," Zayn whispers, her cheeks going red as her arousal suddenly spikes.

"H-How?" Marcel asks as he too turns his attention towards Zayn, making her feel even more flushed under both their gazes.

"C'mere," Louis says, holding out her hand to Zayn across Marcel's chest. When she takes it, Louis pulls her across Marcel's body entirely, having her settle between them. "Have you ever gone down on someone before?" she asks Marcel as one of her hands wanders down Zayn's body, slowly making its way between her legs and making Zayn gasp with pleasure.

"Yeah, well… I mean… once," Marcel clears his throat, "but, umm… I'm not sure if I… y'know, if I was any good."

"Really?" Louis says skeptically, leaning over Zayn with her hand still between her legs and catching Marcel's mouth with her own. "With that mouth," she says, hardly pulling away, "I find that very hard to believe."

Marcel laughs bashfully, ducking his head as his cheeks go bright pink. Louis turns her attention back to Zayn and pushes her fingers inside of Zayn, groaning softly when Zayn moans.

"Want me to show you?" Louis asks as she licks her lips.

"Y-Yeah. Yes." Marcel clears his throat again. "Yes, please."

"One of you better bloody do something soon," Zayn groans, "instead of just sitting around _talking _about it."

"Alright, pushy." Louis laughs as she settles herself down between Zayn's legs and motions for Marcel to join her as best he can. Marcel glances back at Zayn for a moment, waiting until she nods her head before he follows Louis' example.

Zayn fully intends to watch the two of them but that plan immediately goes out the window the moment Louis puts her tongue against her. All the teasing and build-up over the last few hours have left Zayn practically dying for some relief and she can't hold back any longer. All it takes is a few licks from Louis to have her become a panting, moaning mess beneath her.

"Oh my god," Marcel whispers reverently as he watches Louis. Even though he came not five minutes ago he can already feel himself getting hard again. He wants to make it last this time but with everything that's already happened and the possibility of a million things to still happen, he just doesn't see how that's even possible.

Zayn cries out when Louis lifts her head a minute or so later, smiling devilishly as she wipes at her mouth with the back of her hand.

"You fucking _tease_," Zayn groans as she drops her head back against the pillows.

"Sorry, love," Louis says, not sounding sorry at all. "Couldn't have all the fun myself, could I?"

She looks over at Marcel as she moves out of the way, leaving the space between Zayn's legs open for him. He stares at her for a moment before he remembers himself and fills the vacancy, looking up at Zayn with wide eyes as he carefully lowers his mouth to her.

"That's it," Louis says, gently running her hand through Marcel's hair as Zayn gasps. "Gently at first, she's very sensitive."

"Fuck you," Zayn moans.

"Hush, you'll break his concentration," Louis teases as she hitches herself up further onto the bed. She cups one of Zayn's breasts in her hand, pinching the nipple between two of her fingers and making Zayn moan even more.

"Oh, god," Zayn pants, "fuck, oh my god."

"Feels good?" Louis leans down and puts her mouth on Zayn's other nipple, flicking her tongue against it as she stares down at Marcel between Zayn's legs.

It's a positively dizzying sight to behold; Louis simply doesn't understand how Marcel could _ever_ think he wasn't good at any of this. The way he's using his tongue is absolutely sinful and judging by the way Zayn can't keep her mouth shut, it must feel incredible.

"Didn't I tell you?" Louis says, pulling her mouth away from Zayn's breast and breathing harshly into her ear. "I knew he'd be good at this, didn't I?"

"Yes," Zayn gasps, "yes, you were right, do you want a prize, or… _ohh_!" Zayn shouts, gasping suddenly and in quick succession as she comes. She grabs onto Louis' inner thigh, which happens to be the closest part of her that Zayn can touch with her hand, digging her fingers deep into the flesh as she rides out her orgasm.

Marcel doesn't stop until Louis slides her hand under his chin and pulls him up and away from Zayn's pussy to give her room to breathe. He's panting as he licks Zayn's slick off of his lips, staring back at the two of them.

"Did I… was that okay?" he asks. Zayn laughs breathlessly and Louis can't find it in herself not to kiss him in that moment.

"I think you deserve a reward for that," Louis says, nipping at Marcel's bottom lip with her teeth before she pulls away. "Don't you, Zayn?"

"Definitely," she replies, still fairly out of it from the force of her orgasm. "What're you thinking, Lou?"

Louis clicks her tongue as she looks back at Zayn and then turns to Marcel, eyeing him appreciatively as she mulls it over in her head.

"How about… you fuck me?" she says with an innocent smile. The moment the words come out of her mouth Marcel looks like something in his brain just short-circuited. Zayn rolls her eyes as she heaves herself up off the bed, resting on her elbows as she shakes her head at Louis.

"Very subtle, Lou."

"Thank you," Louis says, blowing a kiss to Zayn.

"Y-You're serious?" Marcel asks.

"Yeah, of course. If it's alright with you, and Zayn."

"Why would I say no to that view?" Zayn replies, giving Louis a wink.

"Didn't think you would," Louis replies as she leans over and kisses Zayn on the lips.

"I don't… umm," Marcel clears his throat awkwardly and pushes his hair back away from his face.

"What's wrong, love?" Zayn asks.

"I don't have a _condom_," he whispers.

"Lucky for you, then," Louis says as she lays across Zayn to reach the table on the other side of the bed. Zayn playfully smacks her bum as Louis rummages around in a drawer, doing it again when Louis replies with a squawk.

"Keep it up and I'll tie your hands, missy," Louis says as she picks herself up off of Zayn, the pair of them smirking at each other as Louis passes a condom to Marcel.

"You… umm… d'you use these?" Marcel asks nervously as he stares down at the condom that's now in his hand and Louis giggles softly.

"Sometimes," she replies coyly. "When we're using toys."

"Toys?"

Louis laughs again and Zayn spanks her a little harder this time. "Don't scare him off, now."

"Don't worry, love." Louis knee-walks over to Marcel and kisses him gently. "There's plenty for the three of us to do that don't involve toys, _yet_."

Marcel turns bright red and Zayn covers her face with her hands. "God, Lou, you're incorrigible."

"Thank you," Louis preens. "Now… how do you want me?"

"I… I don't…" Marcel stutters.

"C'mere," Zayn says as she sits up. She and Marcel switch places so that he's now lying down on the bed and she joins Louis near his waist. "This is my personal favorite view," she whispers playfully.

Louis kisses her cheek before Zayn slips in behind her, the two of them watching as Marcel puts the condom on. His hands fumble a little under the pressure but he manages well enough that he doesn't need any help.

"You ready?" Louis asks as she gets up on her knees, hovering over him as she waits for his response.

"Yeah," he says, nodding. He puts his hands on her waist, sucking in a sharp breath the moment the head of his cock presses against her.

Zayn watches Marcel's face turn and contort with pleasure, clearly overwhelmed by the sensation of Louis sinking down onto his cock. She's pressed up tight against Louis' back, her hands covering Marcel's on Louis' waist. When Louis manages to sit fully in Marcel's lap, waiting a minute or so to let both herself and Marcel get used to the feeling of being so close together, Zayn decides to move her hands up from Louis' waist to her breasts.

"How's he feel?" she asks, still gazing at Marcel from over Louis' shoulder.

"Fucking huge," Louis moans. "Wish you could feel it too."

"I will," Zayn says, locking eyes with Marcel when he finally opens his. "Don't you worry about that."

"Oh god," Marcel moans brokenly.

"Think he likes that idea," Louis says, giggling softly as she shifts her hips ever so slightly. Marcel tightens his grip on her hips and she gasps, her hands flying up to cover Zayn's. "Fuck," she breathes, "god, I feel like I could come at any second."

"Already?" Zayn muses as she starts pressing gentle kisses along Louis' shoulder. "You've barely even started."

"I know," Louis groans. "God, I… _fuck_, Zayn."

"Open your eyes, love. Show him what he's done to you already."

Louis does what Zayn tells her and drops one of her hands down to press it to one of Marcel's still clutching at her waist. Zayn presses her hips into Louis' backside, slowly urging her to start moving. Marcel moans loudly when it happens, his eyes rolling back into his head.

"Bet you feel amazing on his cock," Zayn mutters in Louis' ear. "Can't even imagine how wet you are."

She urges Louis to go a little faster, to start fucking herself on Marcel's cock properly. He's hardly moving his hips at all but it doesn't even matter. Louis has no problems with using his cock to chase her own orgasm, provided he gets one as well.

Zayn shuts her eyes and sinks her teeth into the meat of Louis' shoulder as she starts rocking her hips against Louis' arse with a bit more force. She hadn't planned on using Louis' bum to get off but now that she was here she certainly wasn't going to let the opportunity to go to waste.

"God," Louis gasps, "it's so good, _fuck_. Zayn, how is it so good?" She whimpers, tilting her head back as the two of them move together; Louis practically bouncing up and down on Marcel's cock while Zayn grinds against her.

"Fuck," Zayn grunts as she presses her face into Louis' neck, breathing hot and heavy against Louis' skin.

Louis lifts her head up as she takes her hand away from Zayn's on her chest, somehow managing to slide it between their bodies behind her. Zayn gasps when she feels Louis' hand by her waist, and she moves her hips closer to give Louis better access to get where she clearly wants to be. A moment later two of Louis' fingers are buried deep inside of Zayn and she moans into Louis' shoulder.

"Yeah," Louis pants as she looks down at Marcel, squeezing his hand. "Look at us."

Marcel blearily opens his eyes, whimpering at the sight before him.

"You gonna come soon?" Louis asks as she clenches around his cock, bearing down harder as she gets closer to the edge.

"Yeah," he whimpers. "Oh god…"

"I'm getting close," she says breathily as Zayn moans behind her. "So's Zayn. Look what you've done, Marcel. I want you to watch us come."

"I am," he groans. "God, you're beautiful. Both of you. I… oh god…"

"That's it," Louis moans, "just a little more. Don't stop, keep watching…"

"I can't… I'm gonna, I'm gonna," Marcel shouts as he comes and Louis moans as she feels his cock twitch where it's buried deep inside of her.

"Yeah, Marcel, yeah," she gasps, riding him harder as she feels her orgasm start to wash over her. "Oh god, oh _fuck_!"

Zayn whimpers behind her, feeling utterly spent as she comes again on Louis' fingers. She tries her best not to collapse into Louis but there's nothing she can do except follow when Louis suddenly tips forward onto Marcel's chest.

The two of them burst into laughter at the ridiculous nature of it all and Marcel is a little concerned at first but soon after he joins in. It takes a while for the three of them to pull themselves together enough to disengage from each other, eventually collapsing onto the bed as their breathing returns to normal.

"I don't know about you lot," Louis says after a few moments of silence, "but I could use a snack."

"I don't think I can move my legs," Zayn says, laughing softly.

"I, umm… I'd offer to go, but…" Marcel bites his lip as he looks down at himself.

"Nobody's going by themselves," Louis says as she pats Marcel's chest, leaving her hand right there when she's done. "Ten minute recess, then food."

"Good plan," Zayn says as she cuddles up to Marcel's other side.

"Then," Louis says as she draws a lazy circle around Marcel's nipple, smiling against his skin when he jerks a little, "round two."


	5. The Future

Marcel wakes with a start the following morning, forgetting for a moment where he is. His eyes ache and burn from accidentally sleeping with his contacts in. He starts to sit up and then realizes that both Louis and Zayn are still asleep on either side of him, their arms casually draped across his waist.

The night before comes crashing back in waves; they'd all sat in the kitchen for hours, feeding each other bits of food and laughing as they traded kisses back and forth. When they'd gone back to the bedroom, Louis brought the biscuits Marcel made despite his protests about getting crumbs in the bed.

In the end a fair amount of crumbs had ended up scattered all over the sheets but Marcel didn't really care. Louis and Zayn had impeccable ways of distracting him so he didn't even notice.

But in the light of day and being the only one awake in the house, a feeling of dread washes over Marcel. He hadn't meant to fall asleep here. He'd never imagined in a million years that anything that happened yesterday would ever happen to him at all, let alone with Louis and Zayn. Somehow the realization that none of it was a dream does nothing to quell Marcel's anxiety. In fact, it just makes it worse.

He tries to slip out of the bed without disturbing either of them, finding it a lot harder to accomplish than he thought it would be. He moves at a snail's pace and hardly breathes at all. By the time he makes it to the foot of the bed his heart is racing and his head is spinning so fast that it's quite possible he's going to faint.

To make matters worse, he's still completely naked. His swim trunks and shirt are still on the floor where they were discarded yesterday, but his real clothes are all neatly tucked away in his bag which unfortunately is in the living room.

Marcel grimaces at the feel of his still-wet trunks but pulls them on anyway for lack of any better options, but when he goes to reach for his shirt he hears a sleepy voice from behind say his name.

"What're you doing?" Louis asks as she sits up, rubbing her eyes and looking impossibly innocent. Marcel freezes in place and panics. He hadn't bothered to come up with a plausible story because he hadn't expected either of them to wake up.

"Nothing," he squeaks. Louis stops rubbing her eyes and stares at him almost as though she can see right through him.

"Are you okay?" she whispers.

"Fine," he whispers back, "just… umm… going to grab my glasses, that's all." He laughs nervously. "Shouldn't have slept in the contacts, you know."

"Okay," Louis replies as she lays back down in the bed. Marcel waits until she closes her eyes before he moves again, grabbing his shirt and leaving the bedroom as quietly as he can.

He finds his bag right where he left it in the living room and makes his way to the hallway loo, changing into his clothes from the day before and taking out his contacts. He breathes a sigh of relief when he slips his glasses back on, though it's then that he realizes his neck is absolutely _covered_ in marks.

Marcel bundles his wet clothes up into a ball and shoves them into his bag, making his way out of the loo and back into the living room. He has every intention of slipping out through the front door and going home, only when he enters the living room he's no longer alone.

"Louis," he gasps in surprise. "What are you--"

"I wanted to check on you," she says as she gets up from the couch. Marcel's grateful that she'd thought ahead to put on some clothes, but he can't help but wish she'd stayed in bed.

"I'm okay, really, I just… I think I need to go, and--"

"Why?" Louis asks.

"B-Because… I…" Marcel sighs. "I don't really belong here, do I?"

"What? What do you mean?"

"This was never going to work," he says dejectedly. "I was never going to fit in here, not like you and Zayn already do. I'd just get in the way, or make things worse because I'm just… I'm rubbish at this sort of thing."

"Marcel," Louis says gently, "you're not."

"I am, though." Marcel laughs softly. "I've never had a proper relationship before. Nobody's ever bothered with me. How could I possibly make both of you happy when I can't even manage a relationship with one person?"

Louis opens her mouth to reply but she pauses before she says anything. Instead, she moves aside on the couch and pats the spot she's just left. Marcel looks at the spot and then at her, but before he can shake his head she speaks.

"Please?"

Marcel sighs heavily and goes to sit down next to her, both of them feeling absolutely wretched that they've had a hand in making the other upset.

"It's okay if you're nervous," Louis says. "I'm nervous too."

Marcel snorts without meaning to. "Sorry," he says quickly. "It's just… you're always so confident. I don't know how you do it."

"Would you believe me if I told you I've never had a proper relationship, either?"

"What?" Marcel stares at Louis in utter disbelief. She nods and ducks her head slightly.

"I think part of the reason why Zayn and I…" Louis trails off and laughs softly, "...why _I_ never wanted to put a label on us is because I was afraid that as soon as we did, it would all fall apart." She shrugs slightly and laughs again. "Silly, I know."

"It's not," Marcel replies. "It's not silly at all."

"I've always been rubbish at expressing my feelings," Louis admits. "I always come on too strong and sometimes I end up scaring people off. Sort of like I did with you," she says as she carefully puts her hand on Marcel's knee. "I hope last night wasn't too much," she whispers.

"No, I…" Marcel laughs bashfully, "I really liked it."

Louis bites her lip and smiles. "So did I. And I know Zayn did too."

"R-Really?"

"Yes," Louis says as she grabs Marcel's hand and squeezes it tightly. "I know we've been awful at telling you how we really feel, but we _really_ do like you, Marcel. And last night was a lot but it felt right, y'know? Like the three of us being together is how it's always been meant to be."

Louis goes quiet after that, feeling more vulnerable than she's allowed herself to be in a very long time. She stares down at their hands rather than looking Marcel in the eye, half expecting him to pull away and leave.

Marcel slowly brings Louis' hand up to his mouth, pressing a gentle kiss to the top of her hand as she looks up at him.

"Do you really think this could work?" he asks honestly. "The three of us?"

"If we all want it," Louis answers, "then yeah, I really do."

Marcel starts to smile and Louis lets out the breath she'd been holding, but before either of them say anything else their attention is diverted to the other side of the room where Zayn's suddenly appeared.

"Here you both are," she says grumpily as she adjusts the blanket she's got wrapped around herself. Both Louis and Marcel laugh uneasily for a moment and Zayn frowns. "I woke up to an empty bed, thank you very much."

"Sorry, love." Louis gets up from the couch, still holding onto Marcel's hand. She gently pulls him to his feet and he goes easily, following her as they both walk over to Zayn. "Marcel and I were just having a chat."

"Everything okay?" Zayn asks earnestly as she reaches out to touch Marcel's arm.

"Yeah," Marcel answers. "I'm good."

"Good," Zayn replies with a smile. "You can tell me all about it when we're all _back in bed_."

Zayn takes Marcel's other hand and leads the way back into the bedroom, muttering about how Sunday is supposed to be the day of rest. The other two follow with sheepish smiles, both of them feeling remarkably more at ease.

*

Monday mornings are never easy. Zayn is always far grumpier on a Monday than any other day of the week, but when she finds Louis waiting outside the company building this morning it's easy for Zayn to smile at her. It's even easier to go in for a kiss, which is something neither of them have ever done before.

"Ready?" Louis asks, slipping her hand into Zayn's.

"Ready," Zayn replies back to her and together they walk, hand in hand, into the building.

They continue holding hands in the lift, and through the office towards Zayn's cubicle. Zayn feels a little nervous as heads continue to turn and whispers abound as they walk by, but Louis keeps her head up high and just smiles, wishing everyone a good morning as they pass.

Marcel's already in his cubicle when Louis and Zayn arrive. He still jumps when they wish him a good morning, but this time it's punctuated with a kiss from both of them. Marcel turns red as ever but he happily accepts his good morning kisses with a smile.

"Keep an eye on your inbox," Louis says, winking at both of them before she leaves to head to her own desk. Marcel turns to Zayn with a questioning look and she laughs.

"You'll see," she tells him.

Not ten minutes later a new email pings in Zayn's inbox. It's a meeting invitation from Louis, and this time Marcel's invited as well. Zayn doesn't even bother to read the convoluted description, she clicks _accept_ without a second thought. It's blocked off almost the entire afternoon on her calendar and she can't _wait_.

At the end of the day, all three of them wait for the lift together. Marcel hasn't stopped tugging at his collar since the end of their meeting, and every so often Louis and Zayn catch a glimpse of a fresh red mark on his neck. The whispers around the office have _tripled_ since that morning, but none of them seem to care.

As they file into the lift, Zayn takes both Louis and Marcel's hands into her own and smiles at the both of them in turn.

"Dinner at mine?" she asks casually, grinning widely as the lift doors shut.

**Author's Note:**

> [my tumblr](http://astorytotellyourfriends.tumblr.com)


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